Aether Academy
by LegacyReturns
Summary: Welcome to Aether Academy! Are you ready to join Alex and Mark on some adventures? If so, come on in! SYOC! Go to my profile for the rules and guidelines. Rated T for some language. (On hiatus. SYOC Closed)
1. Prologue

**Hello everyone! I've been away from the Pokémon SYOC community and I've come back to find that the landscape has changed from when I was more active on here. This community was once populated with many Pokémon Academy stories and now I see a very diversified library of stories to pick from that range from stories about murder to stories about paths crossing again. There are still academy stories though I only see one author with an interconnected universe of stories which I find very impressive so kudos to you! You know who you are if you're reading this.**

**Anyways, now that I'm back, I want to go back to my roots. I started with my own Pokémon Academy series which was an SYOC story that followed Alex and Mark through their first year at Pokémon Academy. I then rebooted the story, renamed it Star Academy, and opened a brand new SYOC application before abandoning that story as well. Now, years later, I still find myself coming back to this original idea but with a twist. Rather than start from Alex and Mark's first day of school or tell you how they got to the academy, we're starting from their second year. I will also be using some of my favorite characters that were provided to me from the previous stories, so this iteration will not be a continuation to either of its predecessors. It will be its own unique story. In fact, you can basically consider the original Pokémon Academy, Star Academy, and Aether Academy three different stories in a multiverse. The core series Pokémon games exist in a multiverse so why not apply that here?**

**I want you all to know that I'm doing this for fun so keep the flames out of the review section. The only things I want in the reviews are ****constructive criticism****, theorizing/speculation, and, yes, responses to the QOTD! Now without further ado, let's begin.**

**[Update 11/27]: Hey guys! I just wanted to let you guys know that I've decided to change Eric's dragalge into a dragonair. This has no real impact on the chapter or even on the greater plot. It just made more sense for Eric and Ava to be sitting on a smooth-bodied serpent than a spiny seadragon that secretes poison. That's all, really.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters. These are the intellectual properties of Nintendo and the Pokémon Company.

**Aether Academy**

**Prologue**

There are many pokémon academies scattered throughout the world, each dedicated to developing its students' potential so that they can become the next gym leaders, elite four, and champions. The Alola Region does not have a traditional pokémon league like other regions, however. Though it may have established an elite four and champion recently, the champion, Elio Albright, and his elite four members could not bear to abandon the island trials that fostered the strong bonds between themselves and their pokémon and carried the tradition of Alola's people for many generations. It is for this reason that after Lusamine Quintana, the former Aether Foundation president, resigned from her post, Aether Island was converted into Aether Academy, a school where students from all over Alola and furthermore, from all over the world, can gather to learn about the beauty of pokémon, not just as combatants but also as friends and equals.

Alex rolled his emerald eyes at the long-drawn-out explanation that Mark had given the five-year-olds who asked them where they were going with all of their luggage. The eevee sitting atop Alex's head licked her paws out of boredom and the children seemed to share the same sentiment with large yawns. The explanation seemed to have gone over their heads as one of the children asked, "So are you guys criminals leaving the region or…"

Alex then jumped with his arms stretched out as he said, "That's right! We take kid's pokémon and sell them on the black market!"

"We don't have any pokémon yet."

Now Alex was in the awkward position with five kids looking up at him with confused looks. Like Alex did earlier, Mark rolled his crimson eyes and shot Alex a smirk. Mark was loving this. Alex then told the kids, "We also take lunch money and use it to buy eggs to throw at kids!"

Suddenly the boys started running away from Alex and Mark while screaming at the top of their lungs leaving Alex to laugh at his work. Mark let out a sigh and said, "Was that really the best thing to tell a bunch of kids?"

Alex simply shrugged and said, "Well what's the worst that could happen?"

"I don't know, maybe a mob of angry parents?"

"Nah, you worry too much," Alex said as he started walking into the ferry terminal, the wooden floor squeaking underneath his weight.

"If you say so," Mark responded while following his roommate. "Thanks again for picking me up from the airport, by the way. And tell your mom that I appreciate the lift."

"You already told her thanks."

Mark chuckled and said, "Yeah, you're right. I just can't help but thank her. She's always been so nice to me."

"Well you're only the biggest kiss-ass. You're every parent's dream."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with being polite."

"Only if you don't mind the smell."

"Oh, ha-ha!"

"Speaking of smell, how come your brother didn't come on the plane with you?"

"He did but as soon as we landed, he took off on Meteora's back to meet up with Ava in her hometown." Alex burst into laughter at the thought of Mark's older brother riding on a shelgon's back like a mudsdale or an arcanine. "What's so funny?"

Alex struggled to stop laughing but managed some pauses to say, "I-it's just…I can imagine Eric going 'Hyah! Hyah!' On his…on his shelgon! I mean what? Can…can they walk on water all of a sudden?!"

It finally clicked in Mark's head which made the boy laugh though not nearly as hard as his roommate. "You want to know what's really funny?"

"What?!"

"Meteora evolved into a salamence over the summer."

The laughter ceased immediately. Alex was left wide-eyed. "She w-what?"

"Yeah, she's a salamence now. A pretty big one too, probably like eleven foot seven, maybe eleven foot eight from head to tail."

"They don't even grow that big!"

"Yup. I mean, she's big enough for Eric to ride. Might fit Ava too."

"Hey, roomie?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not going to tell your brother I called him smelly, right?"

Mark tapped his chin with one finger, pretending to contemplate Alex's request. He said, "Hmmm…I don't know…What was that thing you called me? A kiss-" The crimson-eyed boy was cut off by the booming sound of the ferry's horn. "Hey, looks like the ferry is here. Come on, we should make line." Mark took hold of his suitcase and led the way to the terminal entrance.

Alex called as he followed behind, "Hey buddy…you never answered my question."

* * *

The skies over the Alola Region were clear for miles, perfect for flying on a pokémon's back. At least, for those who enjoyed doing so. Ava was not one of them. She had her face buried into Eric's neck and her arms clung to him like a komala's. At the slightest jerk in movement, she screamed her lungs out which made Eric chuckle to himself. She was too busy focusing on not letting go or looking down to notice.

She yelled into Eric's ear, "Why did I agree to this again?!"

"Because it's quicker than a ferry ride!" he shouted back. Meteora roared in agreement, which only made Ava flinch. "Did you just jump?"

"Meteora scared me!" she yelled defensively.

Eric rolled his eyes before instructing his salamence to go down. Ava was pushed closer to Eric, making her hold on tighter than before. The crimson-eyed young man felt uncomfortable, but he endured it. Meteora descended steadily until she was flying several feet above the waves.

Over his shoulder, Eric yelled, "You can look now. We're just above the water."

Ava was hesitant to look but after Eric urged her again, she cracked open one of her golden eyes and felt slightly less scared. She kept telling herself that worst case scenario, if she were to fall into the ocean, she would not hurt herself and Eric could just pull her back up. Her grip around him eased, letting Eric know that she was more comfortable.

"Hey, look," he said as he pointed at the reef. They could see many marine pokémon like wishiwashi, gorebyss, and tentacool. "You don't really get to see this from a ferry."

Ava smiled as she said, "Yeah, you've got a point there."

Suddenly, Meteora beat her powerful wings with all her might to fly up. "Meteora! What gives?!" Eric shouted at his pokémon. It became clear when he heard a huge splash followed by a loud roar. Ava did not tighten her grip fast enough, so she grasped onto Eric's red vest for dear life. She looked down only to find a twenty-foot sea beast staring at her like it just found lunch.

"Gyarados!"

Eric straightened Meteora out, but Ava was still left dangling at an awkward angle, making it difficult for the dragon to fly. The young man reached out for her free hand but a powerful hydro pump from the Gyarados smashed into Meteora's underside, causing the girl to lose her grip. She screamed as she scrambled to pull her Loungefly backpack off her shoulder to reach the poké balls inside.

"No!" Eric yelled as Meteora flew down with him on her back. Ava realized immediately that he was right. If she were to open her backpack, everything inside would most likely fly out. She even felt everything near the zipper. Eric commanded Meteora to fight off the incoming gyarados before leaping down to catch Ava. The two fell into the water but Eric was quick to pull out his dragalge's poké ball to call it out.

Meteora launched a blast of colorful flames at the gyarados to distract it from attacking the humans. The gyarados retaliated with hydro pumps but Meteora kept moving at a distance to avoid any damage. Once Eric felt like she had an opening he called out, "Use zen headbutt on its body!" Meteora curved her path to fly directly towards the gyarados and as she did, she concentrated her mental energy into her already sturdy forehead, which caused it to glow blue. When Meteora smashed her head into the gyarados' neck, the sea beast roared in pain before toppling over. The splash carried waves outward in every direction, even making the dragonair move back with the current. Eric then called Meteora over so that Ava could climb onto her back. He followed and called his dragonair back into her poké ball before flying Meteora as far away from there as possible.

"Well that was an interesting way to start the school year," Eric said to break the tension.

Ava let out a sigh of relief before smiling and saying, "Yeah, I'll say."

**And there you have it. That's the beginning of Alex and Mark's second year and Eric and Ava's fourth year at Aether Academy. This story won't be so plot heavy like Star Academy was but I think it'll be a bit more organized than my Pokémon Academy series was. Think of this as its own standalone story. Fun fact: I initially planned for Eric and Ava to end up dating but never got that far into the story to make it happen.**

**Now I want to let you all know that this story is indeed an SYOC though I already have my main and recurring cast, so any characters submitted to this story will appear once or twice. If I really like them, I might make them recurring characters but for now, no promises. If you're interested in submitting a character, go check out my profile. It has all the information you'll need to know.**

**Now for the QOTD: For those of you who have read my earlier works, who was your favorite character that I've written? For those of you who are new to my writing, what type of character would you be most excited to see my write out?**

**That's everything for today so this is Legacy signing off. Until next time!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! I'd like to start this chapter by saying Happy Memorial Day since it's still Memorial Day for me. A big thanks to everyone who dropped a review, answered the QOTD, and/or submitted a character. I have not responded to everyone yet because of how busy I get with work and my internship, but I will get around to them. For the most part, these characters will just be one-time appearances, maybe the focal point of the chapter as I expect most characters to be since I do have a pretty solid cast consisting of OCs submitted to me in the past.**

**Before we get started with this chapter, I wanted to clarify something for the readers that I messaged a few months ago because I forgot to do this in the author's notes of the prologue. I was originally going to write a story called "Pokémon Academy Tales" which would have consisted of self-contained chapters like a Saturday morning cartoon but I decided to make it more like a sitcom. Most chapters will be self-contained but there will be some storyline as well as characters arcs. That being said, a character submitted to me from the prologue could appear in chapter 75 or something far ahead like that so please be patient and remember that this is meant to be a fun ride for everyone.**

**[Update 6/8]: So I completely forgot to do this when I originally posted this chapter so I'm adding this after the fact. I will not be responding to every review because sometimes there's very little to say and if this story starts getting 10+ reviews per chapter, I don't want the author's notes to take up so much space.**

**[Update 7/3]: Hey guys, it's been a minute since I've posted for this story and I do apologize for that. I kept debating the ending to this chapter and I've decided that I didn't really like it so I changed it up. For those of you who read this chapter before this update, please go back to read the ending. I'm referring to everything after Mark chases Sienna around. Everything before that remained the same. I do apologize if this is confusing. If you have any questions, I can explain through PM. Also, it came to my attention that the way I worded the QOTD, it made it sound like I was asking about your favorite pokémon from S/M/US/UM. I was asking mainly about the human characters so I hope this clears things up.**

ZenoZen: Good to be back! I'm glad you enjoyed the dynamic between Sienna and Jasper. Well, the first day of school in the first year has been done so much that I wanted to mix things up.

GladiusArk: I'm always glad to meet new readers and I hope that you continue to enjoy reading this.

Steelrain66: I have to agree. Dragon-type pokémon, in general, tend to require tons of skill as a trainer.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters. These are the intellectual properties of Nintendo and the Pokémon Company.

**Aether Academy**

**Chapter 1**

While on the ferry to Aether Academy, Alex and Mark had caught each other up on their respective summer vacations. Wingulls passed by in the air, squawking obnoxiously in a chaotic chorus. Vivi would growl at any that got too close to the vessel from behind the rail, running back and forth as the wingulls would move forward or fall behind. Not too far from her sat Alex and Mark on a bench.

Alex let out a yawn as he stretched in his seat. He then placed his hands behind his head, relaxing his body with an exhale as he did. "I'm so psyched for another year."

"You? Excited for school?"

"Well, I'm excited to take the cool classes like Ms. Nahele and Ms. Moakai's classes."

"I think I heard that they were both former trial captains."

"Where'd you hear that from?"

"From one of the seniors from last year."

"Liam?"

Mark quirked an eyebrow and asked, "You really think I would go to Liam for his information?"

Alex laughed nervously while saying, "Yeah…you're right. What kind of an idiot would spend money to find something out?"

"What did you pay him to find out?"

"…"

"Alex…"

"Hey look, that cloud looks like a pinap berry."

"Alex!"

"Okay!" he said as he shot up from his seat and turned to face Mark. "You remember that cute Kalosian girl that went here last year before the pirate incident?"

"Do I remember Cherilyn? You only gushed over her for the entire first semester. Yes, what about her?"

"I may have paid Liam to find out what time she went for her jogs."

"You're a creep."

"How?!"

"I don't know, you only stalked a girl."

"If it makes you feel better, I never stalked her."

"…The pirate incident happened before you could, didn't it?"

"…Maybe…"

"You're unbelievable sometimes, you know that?"

"Hey, Sienna was the one that suggested it."

"Yeah, of course, that would be the reporter's idea."

"Oh yeah? Like you're some casanova."

"I didn't say I –" Mark was interrupted by a shrill yelp which made both boys look to the edge of the ferry only to find Vivi missing. There was the sound of a splash which prompted Alex to leap in without a second thought. Mark ran towards the railing and yelled, "Alex!"

Emerald eyes were scorched by salt water as they darted left and right in search of a small brown pokémon. Alex swam around in the general area, fighting against the resistance that his clothes gave him. He dove down with his eyes open, checking to see if Vivi was below the surface but it was so hard to see underneath that a fish pokémon slapped him in the face as it swam by.

Mark scanned the area frantically from above, but he too was met with failure until he heard a distinct, "Vee?" His head snapped down to the eevee by his side who looked up at him with a confused look on her face.

"Hey is this your eevee?" Beside Mark was a girl around his age with navy blue hair and bright orchid eyes. Her skin was not yet weathered by the intense sun suggesting that she was fairly new to the region because even he had a slight tan from spending just one academic year on Alola. The most noteworthy thing about her was the ruby red guitar that hung on her back. Mark failed to realize that he had just been staring at her which prompted her to say, "Uh…dude?"

Mark shook his head and blinked his eyes to focus. He responded, "Well, it's not mine but it is my friend's."

"Oh, well it bumped its head on that wall while chasing after some wingull so I just thought that you should know that. Is the owner the dork that just jumped?"

Mark chuckled and said, "Yeah, that's him."

She looked off to the side – to the edge of the ferry – and back at him with an expectant look on her face. "So aren't you going to tell someone he went overboard?"

"Oh! Right! Thanks!" he said as he ran past her with Vivi on his heels. He made it to the edge of the ferry to yell out to Alex who was still searching for the eevee. Alex barely heard him but still looked over at the ferry to find Mark and Vivi both on it.

"What the! But! When?! What's going on?!" Just then, Alex noticed for the first time that there were some magikarp leaping out of the water.

Mark looked down at Vivi and said, "Oh! I get it! You yelped because you hit your head and that splash came from a magikarp."

Suddenly, Mark felt the ferry slow down just as someone began speaking into a loudspeaker. "Sir stay right where you are. A crewmember will be down shortly on a lifeboat."

"Well, I guess that girl went to go let the captain know about Alex." Feeling more at ease, Mark looked up to find something interesting. "Hey, that cloud does look like a pinap berry."

* * *

Eric and Ava arrived on the roof of Aether Academy's main building where the administration office and most of the classrooms were located. The roof had been converted into a landing strip for trainers riding on their pokémon's back since some of the students had pokémon that could fly and preferred to do that over spending money for a ferry. When Meteora touched down on the roof, she lowered her hind, so Ava could easily slide off. Eric followed suit and went to scratch his dragon's chin which made her release a low growl. It sounded very welcoming.

Ava watched Eric as he gazed upon his pokémon with such care. There was a small smile on his face as he gently scratched the salamence's chin. "She's always liked that spot, hasn't she?" the girl asked.

Eric looked over at Ava and said, "Yeah, since she was a bagon. It's hard to believe that she's fully evolved now." He then grabbed Meteora's poké ball on his belt and returned her to it.

Ava explained, "Dragon-type pokémon take some time to evolve. You're used to seeing her like a shelgon."

"Not exactly." Ava looked confused. Eric went on, "See, when she evolved from a bagon into a shelgon, I was so excited. I felt like we had reached a milestone."

"And this isn't a milestone?"

"It is but this milestone was one that we looked forward to. Now, what do we have to look forward to? This is her final form."

"Sometimes you don't know what's waiting for you until you arrive there." She looked at him with golden irises and he looked back into them. The two lost themselves in each other's eyes for a long time – long enough that someone arriving on a skarmory had to ask them to move.

* * *

Sienna stood at the ferry terminal with a camera in hand and her faithful fomantis, Camelia, sitting atop her head, practically shrouded by a cloud of snow-white hair. The girl's eyes were locked onto the ramp that led from the ferry to the terminal entrance as they discriminately scanned the exiting crowd until they finally found what she was looking for – her first story.

Alex's footsteps were accompanied by a wet squishing sound as his clothes dripped onto the ramp and then the terminal's wooden floor. He had a towel wrapped around him which had dried up his arms, but his clothes were so drenched that he resigned to changing once he reached his room. Mere seconds passed before Alex was blinded by a flash which left black spots in his vision. He was far from confused, though. He knew exactly who the perpetrator was. "Sienna!" he yelled.

Camelia giggled, covering her mouth with her leafy arms. Sienna ignored him as she continued snapping pictures, which drew attention. "Come on, Alex! Give me a good pose! I didn't get to catch it in action, so I have to settle for this!"

"Well if you give me a sec, I would!" he snapped. He was not even facing the right direction though, which made Mark, Sienna, and the pokémon laugh. Sienna stopped only to grab Alex by the arm and pull him towards the edge of the dock while he rubbed the stars out of his eyes which made him stagger. "Woah!" Once she had him where she wanted, Sienna stepped back to get a good angle.

"Vivi, get in there, will you?"

"Vee!" The eevee happily obliged as she pranced over to Alex who was already standing with his hands behind his head. He wore a large grin which Vivi matched with one of her own.

"Alright, one…two…oh my god!" Something had caught Sienna's eye that compelled her to leave Alex and Vivi where they stood.

"Where are you going?!" Sienna ignored Alex, so he asked Mark, "Where is she going?" The crimson-eyed boy simply shrugged. Alex then asked Camelia, who was already chasing after her owner. Like Sienna, the fomantis ignored him which only frustrated him further.

"I wonder what caught her eye," Mark said.

"Probably some dude."

"Want to go see what has her all excited?"

"No thanks. I'm gonna go change. Let's meet up later to grab something to eat."

"Alright sounds like a plan."

The boys did their elaborate handshake before Alex told Vivi, "Come on, girl, let's get going."

"Eevee!"

After Alex left, Mark went to look for Sienna and Camelia but in his search for them, he failed to notice the girl that bumped into him, causing both to fall to the floor. "I-I'm so sorry," Mark said quickly. When he looked to see who bumped into him, he noticed that it was the same girl that he had spoken to on the ferry.

"Mark!" The boy turned to find Sienna and Camelia running towards him. She continued, "Jump on her! Don't let her get away!"

"What?"

Mark could feel movement behind him. It was the girl running away from them. Mark lifted a hand and yelled, "No! Wait! I wasn't going to jump on –" Before he could finish, the girl had already been lost in the crowd. "You…"

"Mark! How could you let her get away?"

He stood up and asked, "Wait, what now? Why were you after that girl?"

"Because that was supposed to be my first scoop of the year! I had no idea that Raven Archer was attending Aether."

"Raven? So that's her name…" Mark thought to himself.

Sienna noticed his intrigue, so she interrogated him. "Does little Marky Mark have a crush now?"

His cheeks burned a bright crimson as he shook his head and his hands. "N-no! It's not like that! Um…who is she, though? Like why is she your first scoop?"

"You don't know who Raven Archer is?!"

"That is why I'm asking."

"Right. She's the youngest daughter of Silver Liepard's lead guitarist, Axel Archer."

"Is that a band?"

"You're kidding…" Mark simply shrugged. "Maybe my first story can be titled, 'Uncultured Sophomore Reveals that the Hoenn Region Has Never Heard of Good Music.'" Mark watched Sienna pass her hand over the imaginary news title with an eyebrow raised. When she noticed this, she asked, "Too much?"

"No…I mean you're only being prejudiced towards my region but other than that, the title is fine."

Sienna laughed and said, "I'm just playing with you, Mark. Jeez, you'll never land a girl like Raven if you're that serious all the time." She walked towards the academy, leaving Mark with a burning blush on his face.

He stammered, "I – you – but – " He let out a large sigh before following Sienna and her fomantis. When Mark caught up to them he asked, "Hey, where's Alaina?"

"In Hau'oli City with Karitoru."

"Wow, he's already here too? Kalos is further from here than Hoenn is. I guess Eric and I are the slowpokes this year."

Sienna giggled as she said, "I guess you guys are. Speaking of him, where is he? Snuck off with his girlfriend?"

"Yeah, he wanted to show off that his shelgon evolved."

"That's so amazing! You best believe that I'm going to do an interview with Eric."

"Eh, you know how he feels about publicity. He prefers to stay out of it."

"Yeah, but there's so much to talk to him about. And Ava, for that matter. I mean we have the privilege of witnessing something that happens only once every blue moon!"

"And that is?"

"The two strongest trainers at our school are dating! It's not anything groundbreaking but do you realize how scarce something like that happens? Is it their love of training that bonds them? Or the love they share for their pokémon? Did one woo the other with a display of strength? I must have the answers!"

"I think they just got close when they started working on a school project last year."

Something in Sienna's eyes changed as she asked, "What project were they working on?"

"I don't know all the details – hey! Sienna! You're taking notes!"

She quickly shoved her notepad into her back pocket and said, "Am not!"

"Then let me see what you just put inside your pocket."

"Nothing."

"Then let me see." He reached for it but Sienna swatted his hand away before running away from him. "Sienna, let me see!" The two started running around the area with Sienna screaming but they stopped when they noticed that a crowd was forming so they decided to investigate. Sienna was one step ahead of Mark, though, so she was at the front of the crowd before he realized she was gone. All that was left was the little fomantis that was working her way through a forest of legs so Mark followed her.

Unsurprisingly, Alex and Vivi were standing in the center of the circle. Across from them stood a taller, much more muscular young man with a scar that ran through his right eyebrow, stopping just above the eye. There were two equally as intimidating older students standing behind him though they were more removed from the center than their friend was.

"Uh-oh," Mark said. To his right, a camera was clicking away, snapshotting pictures at every angle that Sienna could get them in. Mark sighed, "Not even ten minutes back and we're already doing this."

"What do you want, punk?" the larger boy asked.

Alex shouted, "You know what I want, Victor!" He pointed a finger and said, "Rematch! You and me! Right here! Let's go! Come on! Come on!"

Victor scoffed and turned as he said, "Not interested."

"Scared of a wittle sophomore?"

"As if. Last time I checked, I destroyed you last time."

"Just because you beat me doesn't mean you destroyed me."

"Just because you say I didn't doesn't mean I didn't."

"Fine, if you're so confident that you could destroy me, why don't you put your balls where your mouth is?"

Victor's face scrunched in disgust and he was not alone. There were snickers from the crowd and Mark slapped his forehead, embarrassed by the not-so-elegant wording. Sienna, on the other hand, took the opportunity to intervene. As she came between Alex and Victor, she said, "Alex, I know that was meant to sound cooler and it probably did in your head but…no. Just…no."

Alex was frustrated now more than ever. He stomped around and said, "Whatever! Bottom line is that this guy is toast!"

"Alex, stop antagonizing people."

The emerald-eyed boy turned to find Eric and Ava breaking through the crowd. As Eric came into the center of the circle, he shot Mark a glance, nodded, and then redirected his attention to Alex and Victor. The latter of the two grinned as his eyes narrowed with intrigue.

Victor said, "Now here's someone I wouldn't mind proving my strength over."

Eric smirked and said, "Any time you want to go, Cruz." Sparks flew between the stern gazes, charging the air with suspense so thick it made it difficult to breathe. That was until Alex cut through it like a hot knife through butter.

He burst out between the older students and yelled at Eric, "Hey back off! This guy is mine!" Eric scoffed which only angered Alex more. The younger boy challenged, "Or do I have to get through you to get to him?"

Mark hesitantly held out a hand out for Alex but he flinched when he heard Eric laugh. The older brother said, "You just might have to, Alex. My pokémon could use a warm up after that break. They just had each other and wild pokémon to spar against."

Ava shook her head and said, "Boys will be boys, I suppose. Machismo and bravado take control of the frontal cortex for you guys."

Alex scratched his head in confusion. He turned to Vivi and asked, "Did you get that?" The eevee shook her head in defeat, her ears drooping down but snapping back up when Eric spoke again.

"So how about it, Alex? Let's kick this school year off with a battle."

Alex's confusion faded into a confident smile. His eyes emerald eyes glossy with enthusiasm as he said, "You're on!" He then turned to Victor and said, "I guess you'll just have to wait your tu-the hell he go?!"

Sienna responded, "Alex, he left as soon as Eric challenged you."

"Coward."

"Alex."

"Yeah!" He whipped back around to hear Eric out.

"I'll let a professor know that we want to use the school's official battlefield. You just show up before dinner and I'll meet you there. Got it?"

"You bet I do."

With a smirk, Eric turned and walked out through the crowd with Ava right behind him. Not seconds after that, the ring around Alex dissipated until it was just him, Mark, Sienna, and the pokémon. They all stood in silence until Alex let out a chuckle and threw his arms behind his head. "Mark, you're going to have to forgive me for embarrassing your brother on the first day back." Mark rolled his eyes and laughed.

"This is fantastic!" Sienna shouted, breaking the laughter.

"See? Sienna thinks I have a shot."

"What? No! I get to write a story about Eric thrashing you."

"You guys are just haters," Alex said while crossing his arms. "Come on, Vivi, I gotta go change clothes and then we can start planning our victory strategy!"

"Vee! Vee! Eevee!" she cheered happily.

**That's the end of the first chapter and an overall introduction to most of the main characters. There were a few other characters that were name-dropped who may or may not appear as the story goes on. Since this story takes place during Alex and Mark's second year, I do make a lot of references to events that would have taken place in their first year but if the references become too obscure without proper context, let me know so I can real it back or give a better explanation.**

**Also, I wanted to mention that after reading one of the reviews, I got the idea of including Sienna, a character from another academy story I was writing, called Horus Academy. Horus Academy was not originally part of the multiverse I described in the author's notes last time but after giving it some consideration, I want to include it. Sienna will be the only connection to Horus Academy, though. Other than her, I won't be using any OCs from Horus Academy.**

**QOTD: What is your favorite canon character from S/M/US/UM?**

**That's everything for today so this is Legacy signing off. Until next time!**


	3. Chapter 2

**WARNING! MUST-READ: Please go back and reread the ending to Chapter 1. Otherwise, you'll be confused with this chapter. I changed the ending because it wasn't as strong as I would have liked it to be. Everything up until Alex starts talking to Victor is the same. Reread starting from there.**

**Hey, Legacy back with a brand new chapter of Aether Academy! Updates won't be quick because of life, especially when I start doing applications for masters programs and they'll be even less frequent once I start a program but in the meantime, I'll try to supply you guys with as much reading material as possible.**

**Before you read this chapter, I'd like to say one more thing that I think you guys should know but it's not as important as the warning I gave at the top. I'd like to explain something before you guys read this chapter. Originally, Mark and Eric had the surname Villagran but after really thinking about it, I decided to change it to Ryugo. If it bothers you that they have Japanese last names and western first names, then I apologize but I can't change their first names because that's how they've been known for so long and you see the first name much more often than you see the surname.**

**As always, thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. You guys don't know how great it feels to get feedback on stories so I appreciate the support.**

ShadowWolf223: So I should've been more clear with the last QOTD. I mean like human characters but I realized afterward that the wording could've been interpreted the way you did. In terms of pokémon from S/M/US/UM, my favorite is Dusk Form Lycanroc. Its concept is so unique and I love how its design takes from both of the other forms. I just wish that there would have been a Dawn Form since it feels like there's a missing form now.

ZenoZen: I thought you'd like her inclusion. Thank you for the idea to integrate her!

WrittenWhim: I too have a soft spot for academy stories. That's why I find myself gravitating back to this concept. I thought of integrating Alex and Mark in other settings like traditional journeys or even smaller, more secluded stories like searching for specific pokémon or items but I just enjoy the academy/teenager genre so much. I might end up doing some future scenarios for this timeline or maybe some other dimension stuff since I've decided to make my own multiverse with the stories I've written.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters. These are the intellectual property of Nintendo and the Pokémon Company.

**Aether Academy**

**Chapter 2**

Once word had spread to the student body and even the faculty at Aether Academy, the bleachers were full of excited spectators for the first match of the school year. It was not a televised battle, those were held elsewhere, but it was exciting nonetheless. Alex could pick out faces from his classmates among the crowd but his two best friends sat on the sidelines beside him, Sienna adjusting her camera to take the best quality pictures she could.

"At least one of us is having fun," Mark said under his breath talking about Sienna taking multiple pictures of the crowd. He was pushed forward by a slap on the back, almost causing him to fall out of his seat.

"Lighten, up will ya?" Alex asked. "What's the big deal, anyway?"

"How can you be so nonchalant about this?" Mark asked as he regained his composure.

Alex rubbed underneath his nose with a finger and then threw his arms behind his head. He responded, "Mark, you and I both know that I don't know what that word means. What I do know is that when you throw big words at me, it usually means you're tripping out. What is there to worry about?"

"You're not worried at all about losing this match?"

"Pft, no. I'm not gonna lose."

Mark let out a sigh and said, "If only that were easier said than done…"

"After this, I'm going to be the champ!"

Sienna corrected, "If this were an official match, which it's not."

"Well beating him now will bring me one step closer to beating him for the title."

One of the professors at the school, a slender man in black and white robes with oddly styled jet black hair, tapped on the microphone he held in his ghostly pale hand. His voice was dry as an arid desert with a hint of eloquence as he said, "Good evening students and faculty. For those of you who do not know me, I am Grimsley Sinistrio, one of the instructors here. I'll make this quick because I'm sure we'd all like to see the match between Eric Ryugo and Alexander Arceo. Tonight, I will be refereeing this match. May the two trainers take their places on the field?"

Eric, who sat across the field from Alex, stood up from his seat, leaving Ava alone as he went to one side of the field and Alex went to the other while being followed by Vivi. They watched each other, never breaking eye contact. Eric smirked, finding this as a good indication of the younger boy's resolve. It excited him. There were six mr. mime, one on each of the shorter sides of the field and two on each of the longer sides. They stood by, patiently awaiting orders.

As both trainers reached their respective side of the field, Grimsley continued, "The terms of this battle will be a one-on-three with the winner being decided when all of Alexander's pokémon or Eric's single pokémon is unable to battle."

Alex's eyes went wide as he shouted, "What?!" The crowd fell silent and confused murmurs began to hum in the background. Some discussed the terms of the battle while others pointed out Alex's outburst "What do you mean it's a one v three? You lookin' down on me because I'm a sophomore?"

"I told him those terms," Eric corrected. "Alex, I'll be frank with you. A three-on-three will be too one-sided in my favor. These terms are a bit more fair. If you can beat one of my pokémon, I'll consider this your victory."

Alex gripped his fists with all the strength he had. His teeth were clenched so hard that his jaw trembled. He glared daggers at Eric who seemed unphased - his arms crossed over his chest. Alex told him, "In that case, I'm going to make you acknowledge me. Teach, it's going to be a one v one."

Grimsley eyed Alex with intrigue and ultimately smiled with a nod, allowing the boy's request. "Very well," he said. "The terms of this match will be a one-on-one. Whoever's single pokémon is unable to battle will lose and the opponent will be considered the winner. Trainers, please select your pokémon so we may commence."

Without looking away from Alex, Eric reached for a poké ball on his belt and made the selection, already knowing who to use. Alex turned to Vivi and said, "Alright, you're my strongest so you're up, girl."

"Eevee!" she said as she ran onto the battlefield, ready for battle.

Eric smirked and said, "I figured you'd use her but just to be safe, I didn't want to use my hakamo-o and risk it battling your fletchinder."

Mark watched his brother cautiously and said, "Is he going to use…"

"Come out, Princess!"

Alex was severely underwhelmed by the nickname but once a tyrunt came out, he and Vivi were both on guard. This was a pokémon that Alex did not know about. Sienna asked Mark, "What pokémon is that?"

"It's his latest addition. It's a fossil pokémon so it's a rock-type."

"Considering that it's your brother, I think it's safe to assume it's also a dragon-type."

"You'd be correct."

Eric shouted to his opponent, "Alex, I'd like you to meet the royal heir pokémon, tyrunt. I revived her just before the school year ended." Princess looked at Vivi with hunger, which made the smaller pokémon anxious. "She's mostly just trained against pokémon owned by little kids that wander into Meteor Falls like zigzagoon and poochyena. This is going to be her debut battle here. Give her a good match so she can show her full potential."

"Doesn't matter what her full potential is. Vivi's going to match it and send it right back at you guys. Right?"

"Vee!" she said with reinvigorated confidence.

Grimsley nodded as he said, "Well then, I think it's time to begin. Mr. Mime, please set up the barriers."

"Mime!" All six began channeling their psychic powers to create a complete wall of pink energy that went around the perimeter of the field. This was to prevent any stray attacks from hitting the spectators since they were fairly close to the practice field."

Once the barrier was erected, Grimsley asked, "Trainers, pokémon, are you ready?"

"Yes!"

"Eevee!"

"Tyrunt!"

"Begin!"

"Vivi, let's not waste any time. Hit her with a quick attack!" Vivi cloaked herself in white energy and dashed across the field with enhanced speed.

"Princess, store up energy for bide!" Princess stood still as Vivi slammed into her jaw, making the tyrunt look up but she remained standing strong. Vivi's forehead throbbed from the head-on collision with the rock-type.

Alex noticed that the attack did very little damage and that Princess barely budged so he asked, "Vivi, you alright?"

"Vee" she said with a head nod.

"She won't be," Eric responded. "She can't take a rock-type on with normal-type moves."

"Rock-type, huh? Then how about we use bite?"

Vivi jumped up and bit down on the tyrunt with energy-infused fangs. Princess roared in pain but still refused to move.

Sienna tilted her head and asked, "What's going on? Why isn't Eric's pokémon fighting back?"

"Bide is a move that puts the user in a state as if they're frozen. They can't even dodge because the point of it is to take as much damage as possible and send it back. Eric's going to try and finish this in one fell swoop to show the difference in power between himself and Alex."

"What a show-off," Sienna said. Regardless of how she felt about the outcome, she went back to taking pictures.

Although biting seemed to do more damage than quick attack, Princess continued to stand strong so Alex ordered Vivi to release her hold and attack from a different angle. Vivi continued to bite at the rock- and dragon-type in search of a soft spot, eventually going for the tail. The entire time, Eric did not seem to worry.

"Are you ready to start fighting back, Princess?" he asked.

"Tyrunt!" she roared.

"Okay. Unleash your stored energy."

Princess was enveloped by a bright light as she let another roar out. Without warning, she turned and lifted her tail into the air. Vivi held on tight, moving along with the tail as she was then slammed down onto the ground with such monstrous strength that she bounced off the ground and flew towards the far barrier. "Vivi!" Alex shouted. On impact, a rippling shockwave ran through the barrier. Vivi then fell on the ground at the edge of the field.

"Vivi are you alright?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.

The eevee struggled to stand and when she got on all fours, one of her hind legs gave in, forcing her to put her weight on the other three.

"I told you that you two stand no chance against us, Alex. Why don't you forfeit and take Vivi to Nurse Joy? I can't guarantee her safety if we continue."

"Vivi…" Alex considered doing what Eric said. He took a good look at Vivi, understanding that she couldn't run anymore. She could barely stand. Alex took a deep breath, clenching his fist in frustration. The crowd remained silent as they waited in anticipation. Alex was about to forfeit when a voice broke through the silence. It was Vivi's. She barked in retaliation, refusing to let Alex give up. Alex shook his head and said, "Vivi, you're pretty messed up. I don't want you getting hurt anymore." Vivi continued to fight back, hobbling over towards her trainer. "I know this battle is important but you're more important!"

She growled and then turned around, forcing weight onto her injured leg. This left everyone speechless. Alex, Mark, Sienna, the crowd, even Eric. They were all shocked by the tiny pokémon's refusal to surrender.

Eric began chuckling and soon it became uncontrollable laughter which earned a growl from Vivi for ridiculing her but Eric shook his head. He said, "I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing in disbelief. You're a brave little warrior. You've got the soul of a dragon in you. I wouldn't be surprised if you were able to evolve into one. I respect you. Enough to continue with this battle."

Vivi smiled at Eric. She was ready to continue even while struggling to maintain her balance. "Vivi…" Alex said in disbelief.

"What'll you do, Alex?" Eric asked.

Alex smirked and said, "You're putting me in a tough spot, girl. But ok. Let's do this!"

"Eevee!"

Eric nodded his approval and said, "Let's. Princess, tackle her down!"

"Vivi, use wish!" A bright star-shaped symbol appeared underneath Vivi before fading away. "Now, hold Princess off with swift!" Her tail glowed with golden energy as she pivoted with her good legs, whipping out a barrage of star-shaped projectiles that slammed into Princess, causing her to stumble and slow down. Princess quickly recovered and continued her charge forward. Just then the wishing star appeared again underneath Vivi, healing her wounds to near perfect condition, enough to stand on all fours. "Sand attack!" Vivi pivoted again, kicking up some sand into Princess' eyes, breaking the tyrunt's charge.

Princess wailed around with her eyes closed, allowing Vivi to create some distance with a quick attack. Unable to clear her eyes with her stubby arms, Princess shook her head wildly. Vivi took the opportunity to pummel Princess with a barrage of swift projectiles while the tyrunt thrashed about in panic.

Eric's eyes narrowed, growing darker. As they widened again, there was a spark in them as his voice boomed, "Princess!" The tyrunt immediately stopped and began searching for her trainer through the sound of his voice. Vivi flinched and hesitated to continue her attacks. "Relax," Eric told his pokémon. Princess nodded and waited for another command. "Use your sense of smell to track Vivi."

"Tyrunt!" Princess lifted her nose into the air and began sniffing, getting a better read on Vivi's location as time passed.

"Oh no! Vivi, stay on the move!"

"Eevee!"

"Let's see how you're able to move around with obstacles in the way. Princess, use stealth rock!" Princess jumped and spun in the air, shaking her rock-hard scales from her body onto the floor around her. The scales sunk into the ground, confusing Alex because it seemed to have no real effect. Vivi had begun running, though she kept her distance from Princess, firing another barrage of swift projectiles at the tyrunt who had to endure it. "Charge forward and use stealth rock again." Princess did as she was told, holding her ground against Vivi's attacks. Eric had her continue spreading her scales across the battlefield until Vivi's assault came to a screeching stop when she was stricken in her stride.

Alex yelled, "What the-?! What was that?!" His eyes shifted, trying to find what he missed.

Eric used Alex and Vivi's confused states to attack. "Princess, tackle!" Princess ran forward with Vivi's scent guiding her to the eevee's location. In response, Alex told Vivi to run away so she did but once again, she was hit by something that caused her to stumble. That time, Alex noticed that something came up from the ground.

"What is that?" Alex asked, still struggling to see what hit Vivi.

Princess continued charging forward and was able to strike Vivi with her body, pushing the smaller pokémon into the air and dropping her back onto the floor. Vivi tumbled until she stopped, landing on something that caused her to yelp in pain.

"Finish it with a stomp!" Eric commanded.

Princess lunged forward with a leap, intending to land on Vivi. In response, Alex went for a last ditch effort. "Fight back with everything you've got. Return!" Vivi crouched down, charging an aura of rainbow-colored light around her, before springing up and colliding with Princess' underside. The impact created a bright, colorful explosion with an expanding bubble of white inside that filled the inside of the Mr. Mimes' barrier prism. Some students had to shield their eyes from the light. When it cleared, Vivi and Princess both lay on the ground, unable to battle. This left the entire crowd silent, unsure of what happened. Alex and Eric too were both confused as well.

Grimsley stroked his chin, formulating what he could. He took his time, so much that Alex had grown impatient and asked, "Hey, teach! Just what was that?" His concern was accompanied by a chorus of similar questions from some members of the crowd. All the while, Grimsley remained calm. He thought through the events and when he finally spoke with his coarse voice, he was resolute. "It's clear to me," he started, "that the winner here is Alexander Arceo and his eevee."

The confusion grew angry with the decision, except for the few students that really wanted Alex to win. Grimsley went on to explain, "Right before that...explosion, the eevee had connected with the tyrunt's chest area. The tyrunt was defeated by that attack. The eevee on the other hand...seems to have collapsed from exhaustion after using that...move."

Alex looked at Grimsley, then at an unconscious Vivi, and then at Eric, never changing his awestruck expression. Eric did not seem upset by Grimsley's decision. He looked back at Alex with a look of intrigue, in both the younger trainer and his eevee.

"That will conclude tonight's battle," Grimsley continued. "Please make your way back to your dormitories."

The bleachers began clearing, leaving only a handful of people still inside the room. Alex picked up Vivi and Eric recalled Princess into her poké ball. The crimson-eyed young man then approached Alex with a hand placed forward. Alex looked down at it and took it with little hesitation.

"Good match, Alex," Eric said. "If Mr. Sinistrio says you won, then I won't argue with it. But I don't want you getting in over your head. As much as I don't see eye-to-eye with Victor, he's too strong for you as of right now. Had I used any of my other pokémon, especially the older and stronger ones, the match wouldn't have been as close."

"If he keeps up his training, he could stand a chance," Grimsley responded. Both boys turned to the man as he approached them with his hands behind his back. "Alex, Eric, you both used moves that caught each other off guard. A beautiful loss is still a loss and an ugly win is still a win. In the end, results are all that matter. Some people chastise the use of underhanded tactics but there is nobility even in that - showing your opponent that you respect them to the point that you would do anything to triumph over them. Alex, what is your goal? Why do you wish to defeat Victor? Will it bring you closer to your goal? Ponder these things then come see me."

With that, Grimsley excused himself and left the battlefield. Mark, Sienna, Ava, and two of Alex's other friends made their way towards Alex and Eric. Karitoru, a tall young man with unruly white hair held a hand up to give Alex a high five. His girlfriend, Alaina, followed behind, timid as ever.

"Alright!" Karitoru said, "That was awesome! Whatever _that_ was."

"Yeah, what was that?" Sienna asked. "I've never seen Vivi do that when she uses return."

"It could be a new move," Ava explained. "There are plenty of moves that evolve from weaker forms: water gun to hydro pump, quick attack to extreme speed, mega drain to giga drain, and the list goes on."

"So what move was Vivi using?" Alex asked.

Mark began listing off possible moves, "Slam? Trump card? Double-edge?"

Ava shook her head as she said, "No, none of those. The closest could've been double-edge but it doesn't create an explosion. Trump card is performed differently. I'll have to do some research on this."

"What else is new?" Eric asked with a smirk.

Ava looked over at him and quirked an eyebrow, "Hey, research is never done. Especially when it comes to pokémon moves. New moves are discovered all the time. I should let Professor Kukui know about this."

"I think I saw him in the crowd," Sienna responded. "He probably already knows but it wouldn't hurt to talk to him to see what he thinks about it."

Ava nodded and said, "That's what I was thinking."

"As for me," Sienna continued, "You two gave me plenty of material for an article! I'm going back to my room to get started on it. You coming 'Laina?"

Alaina nodded and gave Karitoru a hug before following her roommate back towards the dorms.

"We're going to get going too," Eric said. He and Ava said their goodbyes and went back to their rooms as well, leaving the boys alone.

Mark suggested, "You should take Vivi to Nurse Joy. She looks like she could use some treatment especially if there's some kind of recoil damage from that move."

Alex looked down at the eevee in his arms, watching her sound asleep. Without realizing it, he smiled. He was proud of her, not just for the fight, but for her courage. It definitely gave him what he needed to move forward and with Vivi by his side, he was confident that they could take on whatever the year had prepared for them.

**What did you guys think of the battle? Did you expect Alex to win? Did you expect him to lose? Am I going to make him win all his battles? No. I just felt like this would be a good way to set up the first plotline of this story. I know that I haven't used any characters that have been submitted to me for this SYOC but they're coming. I kind of just wanted to set up the main plotline with this chapter. If you haven't submitted a character yet, the SYOC is STILL OPEN. Even if you've already submitted a character, feel free to submit.**

**QOTD: What move do you guys think it was that Vivi used at the end? I won't reveal that in my responses to answers but I'd just like to see what you guys are thinking after reading this.**

**That's everything for today so this is Legacy signing off. Until next time!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hello! Hope you're all doing well! I'm back with another chapter of Aether Academy and I'm excited for you all to read it. Just to let you all know, the SYOC is still open so I'd greatly appreciate new and interesting characters to build a story around. There are new characters revealed in this chapter and as always, credit to those characters can be found on my bio. Now for some responses to reviews:**

Steelrain66: Thanks! I hope you enjoy this chapter's battle too.

ShadowWolf223: I didn't just want Eric to win because I want the battles to be decided by multiple factors. Remember that Eric's tyrunt is basically still an infant with little experience in battles while Vivi is Alex's strongest pokémon so it was a pretty even battle. Despite this, I wanted to create mystery with this new move that Vivi suddenly learned.

**There weren't that many reviews for the 3rd entry so I hope that more will start trickling in now that newer OCs will be showcased. I've kept you guys waiting long enough so without further ado, let's begin.**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters. These are the intellectual properties of Nintendo and the Pokémon Company.

**Aether Academy**

**Chapter 3**

Mark was an early bird. He was always up earlier than Alex. Vivi was too so despite having such a deep bond with her trainer, she would accompany Mark in the morning on his coffee runs for himself and Alex. This became a routine for them during the previous year when the crimson-eyed boy noticed that Vivi was an energetic little pokémon that would get antsy when enclosed for too long.

As they approached the coffee shop inside the island's food court, Mark looked down to Vivi and told her, "Alright, you know the drill. Wait out here until I get back. Oh! Look at that, they have new flavors for poké puffs. They have Fancy Figy Fluff and Frosted Mocha Dream. Which one do you want? This one or that one?" Mark pointed at a sign on the shop's window and Vivi barked when his finger landed on the Fancy Figy Fluff poké puff.

"Alright, I'll be right back," Mark said as he walked into the shop. As soon as he walked in, he noticed a girl with navy blue hair making her order. This was Raven, the girl that Sienna was chasing after at the marina. Scenarios and scripts ran through Mark's head as he formulated his approach to explaining himself for that day.

When Raven finished placing her order, she turned around and locked eyes with Mark, but immediately shifted her gaze elsewhere to avoid eye contact. Mark held his breath, biting his lip in slight discomfort. He tried not to follow her with his gaze so he shook his head in an attempt to regain his focus on the line that moved forward. While waiting to place his order, Mark continued to contemplate what he would tell her. He felt that she would not believe him if he tried to explain that their last interaction was a misunderstanding.

"Sir? Sir? Sir, are you ready to order?"

Mark failed to notice that he was face-to-face with the cashier, a young man who looked at him with a mix of confusion and concern. As realization hit Mark harder than a choice banded Slaking using giga impact, nervousness krept over him, causing him to fumble over his words.

"I-uh, n-no, give me a second to think about that." Mark walked into the coffee shop knowing what to order but at that moment, he drew a blank. All he could think about was the feeling of judging gazes burning into his back. He also thought about how his behavior would come across to Raven. If she was watching, she must've known that he was uncomfortable. She would no doubt think to herself that he really was up to something.

"Um...can I get two small caramel frappes?"

"Sure thing. Will that be all?"

"Yes...I mean no! Can I get the figy berry poké puff...thing?"

"You mean the Fancy Figy Fluff?"

"Y-yeah, that's it. One of those."

"You got it. That'll be $9.08"

Mark quickly paid for his order and then walked towards the counter, biting his lip out of frustration towards himself. Raven was waiting for her drink too so he stood against the wall, trying to keep out of her field of vision. By the way she tapped her foot and stood with her arms crossed over her chest, her patience seemed to be running thin. Mark felt it best not to approach her after all.

"Dragon Mago Berry Refresher!" the barista announced as she placed the drink on the counter and turned around to prepare the next order.

Raven grabbed her drink, lifted the cup, and scanned the area around. "Excuse me," she said to get the barista's attention. "Can I have a straw please?"

The barista's face winced with regret as she explained, "I'm sorry but we don't offer single-use straws anymore. That's why the lid has that little lip."

"Oh, I see. Why don't you offer straws anymore?"

"I think it has to do with the popplios?" the barista responded, not too sure about the reason.

Raven did not seem too pleased with that answer but she felt like there was no use in making the barista explain further so she just walked away from the counter and out of the store. Mark did not wait long after that for the barista to call his order. On his way out, he approached Vivi but at that same moment, Raven approached the two of them.

"You have got to be kidding me," she began.

"I-I swear I wasn't following you!" Mark blurted out.

Raven looked at him with disgust as she replied, "That's not even close to what I was going to say but I'll make sure to mention that to the dean when I file my report against you and your roommate."

"R-report?! I didn't - I mean, I wasn't - wait, why against my roommate?"

"Both of you are irresponsible. I mean come on, you two weren't even watching this eevee on the ferry. Your roommate legitimately thought that it fell overboard which he wouldn't have had he been keeping an eye on it and now you just leave it unattended? That has to be pokémon cruelty."

"But we're not cruel to her. Are we?" he asked Vivi who shook her head and barked joyfully. "See?"

"Pokémon can be very loyal creatures even to those who don't deserve it." Before Mark could respond, Raven whipped around and started walking the other way, most likely to go file her grievance. Mark instinctively reached for her arm to pull back her attention so he can explain himself but when she felt his hand, Raven jerked her arm away and shouted, "Get off of me!"

"L-listen to me, please!" Mark pleaded.

"You there!" Neither Mark nor Raven recognized this voice so they looked around for the source only to find a short boy with blonde spiky hair rushing to get between the two. He slid to a stop with his back to Raven as he pointed at Mark and said, "Leave this girl alone!"

Mark's eyes widened with shock as it finally dawned on him that there were a few spectators. "N-n-no! No! I'm not doing anything to her. I-I just wanted to, um...you know, talk."

"That's what they all say," the short boy said, unconvinced by Mark's response. The boy wore a serious frown and his posture was very confrontational, his knees bent and his fists clenched. Raven did not seem to know who this boy was, nor did she seem thrilled by his intervention, but she was intrigued and willing to watch how things played out. The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a poké ball, one covered in dirt and grime. He tossed it up into the air and out came a rowlet. The small bird looked up at Mark, then turned his head 180° towards his trainer who explained, "Ronin, this guy's no good. He's over here bothering this girl."

Ronin frowned as he asked, "Rowlet?" He then whipped his head back around and flapped his wings in front of him as an act of intimidation.

"T-there's been a misunderstanding!" Mark said, waving his hands defensively.

Upon closer inspection, the blonde recognized Vivi. He exclaimed, "You've even stolen Alex's signature pokémon!"

"I didn't steal - wait, how do you know my roommate?"

"Who doesn't know the sophomore who defeated a senior? I saw his amazing match against Eric and-and...those eyes. You must be his younger brother!"

"Y-yeah, we're-"

"You're trying to get revenge for his defeat!"

"What?! No!" Mark yelled. "I-"

"I've heard enough from you, scoundrel! Bring out one of your pokémon so I can defeat you. Although I can't stand bullies, I will not attack a defenseless person so let's have a battle."

"W-what? I'm not going to battle you!" Murmurs sprouted among the spectators which only caused Mark to grow more anxious.

"Looks like the villain isn't so imposing when he's challenged to a fight." By this point, Raven had used this newcomer as cover to slip away so that she could go talk to the dean. Mark realized this after she had already gone and looking at the spot she was once at prompted the blonde boy to recall his attention. "Well? Come on, let's do this!"

"I-I'm not a bully or a villain…" Mark's voice had fallen in defeat. He could not figure out how to get past this boy without arousing suspicion that he wanted to go after Raven. That would only look worse. He could not stay here any longer either since the more this loud boy spoke, the more he called attention. If Mark could not resolve this issue, he had to settle for the next best thing: postponing it. "We can't battle here!" he said, eagerly.

The blonde tilted his head in confusion before straightening himself out and saying, "Nice try!"

"N-no, s-seriously! We'll get in trouble if we battle here. We'd have to go to a practice field."

After giving it some consideration, the other boy said, "Alright then. Let's go!"

"What about class?"

The boy had begun walking in the wrong direction, no less, until Mark's point registered, causing him to pivot in his step to turn back around to the sophomore. "You're right...so then when will we fight?"

"After our classes for the day. Meet me at the entrance to the Battle Club at one in the afternoon. That's a facility on the east side of the island with a logo that looks like a battlefield."

Determination sparked in the blonde's eyes again as he nodded and walked off towards class. The spectators lingered for a moment before going about with their day, discussing the confrontation through their own lenses, no doubt. Mark was left with his head down until Vivi caught his attention with a bark.

Mark looked down at her and gave her a small smile. He said, "We better get to class to meet up with Alex."

"Vee!" she said with a nod.

* * *

When Mark arrived to his Alolan History and Culture class, he quickly found his friends sitting in one of the middle rows of the classroom. He shared this first class only with Alex and Karitoru who were in the middle of an arm wrestling contest, a clearly uneven one. Despite Alex trying his absolute best to bring down Karitoru, the white-haired boy seemed unbudgeable.

Mark sat down beside Alex and laid his forehead down against the desk. Karitoru noticed this and looked over Alex's shoulder. He asked, "Hey little buddy, are you alright?"

Alex saw the golden opportunity and used all of his strength in an attempt to bring Karitoru down in one fell swoop. When Karitoru felt the sudden twitch of force against his palm, he swung his and Alex's hands down with little effort, almost snapping Alex's arm in the process. Karitoru had kept his eyes trained on Mark despite Alex's groaning. Vivi had jumped onto the table to lick her trainer's cheek in an attempt to quell his pain.

The crimson-eyed boy finally lifted his head - frustration clear in his face. "I just haven't had the best morning, guys," Mark said as he sank into his chair.

"Did they get your order wrong at the Tapu Caffini?"

"No. Your coffee's right there, by the way."

"Oh, right! Thanks! How much do I owe you?"

Mark dug into his pocket and pulled out a receipt. "Just pay me for your drink. Vivi's poké puff is on me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I don't mind." Mark reached for his drink on the desk and although he could not reach, he did not lean forward, simply waving his hand about lazily. Finally, Alex pushed the drink closer toward Mark so that his roommate could take it.

Alex asked, "Hey but seriously, what's up with you this morning? You're usually all happy and cheery to come to class."

Mark sighed before saying, "It's just...been a crazy morning."

"What do you mean?" Karitoru asked.

Just as Mark was about to explain, the door by the whiteboard opened and a woman walked in accompanied by a small group of pokémon, among them included lillipup, yungoos, pikipek, fletchling, and petilil just to name a few. The pokémon that accompanied the green-haired woman swarmed the classroom, making themselves comfortable on the floor, windowsills, and even some students' desks. Vivi found herself sandwiched between a yungoos and a rufflet until they pushed her off the of the desk and onto Alex's lap.

"Hey, you okay, girl?" Alex asked.

Vivi shook her head and began barking at the other pokémon which caught the woman's attention. She walked up the aisle and slipped into the row of seats below Alex and the others. She giggled as she looked at the yungoos and rufflet, telling them, "Now you two, there's more than enough room for everyone in this room. This eevee was here first so it's only fair that it gets to sit up here, okay?"

The two pokémon wore guilty faces as they tried to avoid eye contact with the woman. Ultimately, they turned to Vivi and seemed to apologize before moving elsewhere.

The woman then reached for Vivi, plucking her off of Alex's lap, which caused the boys, especially Alex, to blush. The woman was completely oblivious to that as she placed Vivi down on the desk and patted her fur. She said, "Now, now, I hope you'll forgive my friends. They didn't mean any harm." Vivi purred at the woman's touch, forgetting that she was even upset. "Your fur is amazingly soft!" the woman said. She then asked Alex, "You must have gotten an A in Lillie's class for this type of grooming."

Alex still had not recovered from earlier so he was taken off guard by her comment. "Are you talking about Ms. Quintana?"

"Yup! That woman sure has a knack for taking care of pokémon and it looks like you've got it too."

Alex smiled and scratched the back of his head as he said, "Gee, you really think _so_?" He was chuckling to himself with faux modesty.

The woman smiled gingerly at Alex and his friends before making her way back to the front of the room where she introduced herself. "Alola, class! My name is Ms. Nahele and I'll be your Alolan History and Culture teacher this year but for today, we won't be discussing that specifically. Today, I want to know all about your histories and your cultures. Though most of you were born in Alola, there weren't always people here. The ancient Alolan people came here from…"

Although Ms. Nahele spoke with passion, practically dancing around the room as she told the story of the first Alolan settlers, Mark found it impossible to focus. He just kept nibbling on his bottom lip and twisting the cup on the desk. It was not incredibly loud but it did catch Alex's attention.

Alex watched the cup for a few seconds before shifting his gaze up to Mark's face for a few more seconds. When he got impatient, he grabbed an erase and lightly tossed it at Mark's head. Crimson eyes shut abruptly as Mark flinched from the unannounced attack. He then turned to Alex and whispered, "What was that for?"

"What was the last thing Teach said?"

"What?"

"What was the last thing she said?"

"She was talking about...I don't know." Mark's gaze fell dejectedly.

"She said that we're listing all the places that our families are from and that if we don't know where they're from, it's our homework."

"Oh."

Alex threw his hands behind his head as he leaned back in his chair and said, "You know, I can't always be the responsible one, here."

"You, the responsible one?" Karitoru asked. "Did I wind up in an alternate reality?"

"Hey, if I weren't around, you two wouldn't get out of all the messes you wind up in."

"I wonder how we end up in those messes in the first place." Karitoru feigned ignorance.

Mark responded, "Well to be fair, Alex had nothing to do with this mess I'm in now."

"Hey!" Alex said very loudly.

Ms. Nahele stopped talking and looked at him with confusion. Alex's classmates followed her gaze to him. "Yes?" She asked innocently.

Alex's eyes darted from side-to-side as his brain looked for a way to excuse his outburst. "What's that?" He pointed at an inkay that was hovering at the front of the room.

"Oh! That's an inkay. It's a pokémon found primarily on Poni Island but also sometimes on Melemele Island. Which island do you come from...I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your name."

"My name's Alex and I'm from Ula'ula Island."

She nodded. "Yeah, that'd explain why you didn't recognize the inkay. What about the rest of you? Are there any friends in here that you don't recognize?"

As she turned the floor to students who wanted to share, Alex and the others continued to their conversation.

"Nice save," Karitoru said.

"Thanks. So back to you, mister." He pointed a finger at Mark. "I do not cause messes."

Karitoru waved his concern away. "Yeah, yeah. So what mess _are_ you in?" Mark inhaled and sighed before explaining the events outside Tapu Caffini.

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?!" Alex asked. Once again, he caught everyone's attention and once again, Ms. Nahele did not seemed bothered in the slightest. She waited patiently for him to continue. "That pokémon is super common on my island. We could hang out and look for one." He tried to find who he should be talking to but with everyone staring at him, it was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Ms. Nahele clapped her hands together and said, "That's such a wonderful gesture, Alex! You've perfectly embodied the learning objective of this class in not only understanding people from other regions and cultures but also showing compassion to them by offering to go with Fei to find a pokémon that is difficult to find in her home region of Kalos. Simply splendid!" Ms. Nahele pointed at a petite girl with long blonde hair held in a messy ponytail. The girl looked over at him with light blue eyes filled with surprising warmth as she smiled and waved.

Alex shot her a grin in return and raised his brows in a suggestive manner but the girl had turned back to pay attention to Ms. Nahele. "And the game begins."

"Can you stop drawing attention to yourself?!" Mark whispered urgently.

"Sorry, that'll be the last time. Promise." He crossed his heart then raised his hand at shoulder level. "Scout's honor. Wait, so what does this mean for us?"

Mark responded, "I have no idea. I've never been in trouble before."

"And maybe you don't have to be this time," Karitoru said.

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"I'm going to text Alaina to let her know what's going on. She has class with Sienna."

"How will that help?" Alex was still confused but Mark had caught on.

"You're going to have Sienna use the newspaper as an excuse to leave class so she can intercept Raven."

"Bingo."

* * *

As soon as Alaina had told Sienna what had happened to Mark, the snow-haired girl made up a clever lie involving a school of shiny mantine and mantyke that passed by the Alola region once a year. When her instructor, Mr. Quintana, began asking questions, Sienna bombarded him with explanations regarding the species' endangerment and the threat of Alolan poachers, spouting information which may or may not have been fact, until the man had had enough and allowed her to leave just to clear his headache.

Sienna raced across campus to the dean's office where she caught her breath while the secretary watched her with concern. When Sienna finally stood up straight, she said, "Hi, excuse me, but was there a blue-haired girl in here earlier?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Because we were supposed to meet here to speak with Dean Hunter. She's a friend of mine."

"I see, but you are supposed to be in class."

"Well, yes but my friend said that she wanted to talk to the dean about something she was passionate about and asked me to be here for moral support. I told her I was going to check in with my teacher to let him know that I would be stepping out and he allowed it."

Sienna's answer put the woman's concerns at ease. The secretary said, "Oh, I see. Well she _was_ here to speak with the dean but the dean is at a meeting on Melemele Island." Sienna wanted to let out a sigh of relief but kept her facade. The woman continued, "I sent your friend back to class and told her to come back after classes were over."

"Okay, thank you very much!" Sienna said quickly before turning back to exit the office. As she walked back to her class, she saw an exhausted Camelia running, having been in pursuit of Sienna the entire time. When Sienna saw her pokémon, she ran to the grass-type and lifted her up into the air as she cheered, "Raven didn't tell her! We're in the clear! We're in the clear!" Sienna tossed Camelia up and down excitedly to which the sickle grass pokémon could do nothing against. When Sienna caught Camelia for the third time, the girl said, "Well, only for now. We'll have to come up with something with everyone else." She then shrugged as she continued, "Oh well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

* * *

After all of the classes had ended for the day, Alex, Mark, Sienna, Karitoru and Alaina regrouped outside of the administration building. Everyone had been filled in after many messages in a group chat so they all knew about the exchange between Mark and Raven, including the freshman that challenged Mark to a battle.

Sienna told the group, "Okay, we don't know what class Raven is coming from so she might be inside but we need a lookout at each entrance. Alex, you and Mark would probably draw Raven towards yourselves so you're watching the side entrance. Karitoru, watch the entrance that leads to the courtyard. That's most likely where she'll be coming from."

"Got it."

"I doubt that Raven will come in from the entrance closest to the ferry terminal but let's not take any chances. Alaina, that's where you'll be."

"W-what about you?" the tiny girl asked.

"All of this will be for nothing if Raven is already inside the building so I'm going in and I have to be quick so everybody get in position! Oh! And Mark!" She had turned around and began jogging in place. Camelia mimicked her. "Get over to the battlefield."

"W-wait! I'm not helping?!"

Alex stated bluntly, "Duh. You can't punk out of a battle with a freshman. People know that he challenged you so if you don't show, your reputation'll be ruined."

"I don't have a reputation."

"Well, not a good one but you do have one," Alex clarified.

"W-what?! What do people say about me?"

"Move it people!" Sienna yelled as she ran towards the entrance to the administration building. The others scattered for their positions leaving Mark with just one thing to do. The crimson-eyed boy took a deep breath to gather himself before making his way towards the Battle Club on campus.

When Mark arrived at the Battle Club's front entrance, he was greeted by a small crowd that eyed him as he walked inside. He did his best to ignore the stares but he grew less confident by the second. It did not help that he could hear things like, "It's him" as he walked in and the word "Brother" thrown in at least once in each conversation.

Mark took a look around for the blonde from earlier but could not find him so he took a seat on one of the couches in the lobby and took his phone out to text the group. He asked for an update to which the Alex responded, "Everything is quiet...too quiet" followed by a gif of an animated slowbro squinting and looking from left to right suspiciously.

Karitoru then sent an "lol."

Mark looked at his screen for several seconds, waiting for some other kind of response but nothing came so he sent another message that said, "So does anyone have anything to substantial contribute to the conversation?"

Alex then responded, "Your mom has something substantial to contribute to the conversation."

Just as Mark was about to reply, he got a message from Sienna saying, "Can you idiots stay focused?! Mark, stop distracting them!" The group chat then went dead silent. Mark stared at the group chat feeling unable to do anything but just wait for his opponent. He gripped his phone tightly, frustration building inside of him. He then eased his grip as he leaned back in his seat and tilted his head up, releasing his breath as he did.

"I see the bully is dreading his upcoming defeat!" The blonde's voice cut through Mark's thoughts, causing the sophomore to snap his head forward.

"I-I wasn't bullying her," Mark said dejectedly.

"Then why did she run off at the first opportunity she got?"

"I-" Mark stopped himself. He realized that no matter what he told this boy, there was no changing his mind. Mark stood up from his seat and said, "Let's just get this over with."

The blonde nodded and turned to the front counter where he asked for a training room, providing his name, Lester Summers, as he checked into the room and took a keycard. Lester led Mark and the small crowd of students to the training room where the two opponents took their sides of the field.

"I was hoping that Alex would be here," Lester said.

"Alex?"

Lester clenched his dist as he responded, "Yeah, I would've loved for him to see his biggest fan take down his backstabbing roommate." He then grew bashful as he kicked the sand on the ground and mumbled, "It would've been nice to grab his autograph while I was at it."

Mark rubbed the back of his neck, feeling uncomfortable by Lester's idolization of his roommate. Luckily, a Battle Club employee entered the room as well and took to the center of the sideline to referee the match while. There was also a troop of Mr. Mime to create barriers around the field like during Alex and Eric's match. The referee announced, "This will be a one-on-one match between Lester Summers and Mark Villagran with each trainer using two pokémon. When both pokémon belonging to one trainer are unable to battle, the opponent will be declared the winner. There will be no substitutions allowed for either trainer. Do the trainers agree to these terms?"

Once Lester nodded, the referee turned to Mark who turned to the blonde and said, "It's not too late. We don't have to do this."

"So the bully is also a coward? You can't always run away from taking responsibility for what you do." Lester reached for a poké ball and held it out forward, determination sparked in his eyes.

Mark inhaled deeply and shut his eyes as he reached for a poké ball of his own. As Mark opened his eyes, he said, "I didn't want to do this." His voice was much colder and sharp which made Lester flinch. Mark nodded to the referee and said, "I'm ready."

Mark's sudden change in demeanor was so jarring that the blonde failed to hear the referee say begin. A flaaffy stood before Mark, dragging his hoofs through the ground, ready to charge.

The referee repeated, "I said, begin!"

When Lester heard the referee, he nodded and said, "R-right!" He then tossed his poké ball in the air and brought out Ronin. The rowlet flapped his wings as he hovered in the air, awaiting an order from his trainer.

"I'll let you go first," Mark said calmly.

A gleam in his eyes caught Lester's attention but the blonde dismissed it. "Alright then, Ronin, use razor leaf!" The rowlet nodded as he flapped his dusty wings, launching a barrage of sharpened quills at the flaaffy - each quill glowed bright green, giving them the appearance of leaves.

"Jinn, use thunder shock."

The blue orb on the end of Jinn's tail began glowing with electricity, which traveled down the tail and into the rest of her body. Once she had charged enough electricity, she released it in a blast. The golden plasma incinerated any quills that it connected with and blasted Ronin out of the air. Some of the remaining leaves hit Jinn, cutting into her skin, though the fleece around her collar and head protected her from a couple serious injuries. Ronin, on the other hand, crashed down to the ground with a loud thud.

Lester called out for his pokémon, "Ronin!" He hadn't expected a thunder shock from a flaaffy to be so devastating. It had landed a critical hit, one that Ronin was struggling to recover from as he forced his way back onto his feet. Once the rowlet stood back up, Lester asked, "Are you okay?" Ronin cooed as he flapped his wings aggressively. "Give her a peck attack!"

Ronin's beak glowed white as he thrust forward to jab Jinn. "Counter with an iron tail." The flaaffy's tail hardened like metal with a silver sheen before she spun on her foot and swatted Ronin's cheek. The mace-like tail smashed into the grass quill pokémon's face, making him roll on the ground until he tumbled to a stop.

"That was a sucker punch!" Lester called out. Mark just eyed him, unwilling to respond. The silence bothered Lester, prompting him to call to the referee, "Is that seriously allowed?"

The referee responded, "Well sucker punch _is_ a move and all moves are allowed."

"B-but that's _not_ sucker punch."

"What the referee means is that it's allowed," Mark explained plainly.

"That was a cheap shot, though."

Mark shook his head and responded, "No. It was a well-timed counter attack. Counter is the name of another move, by the way."

"I know that!" Lester snapped. "Ronin, use razor leaf again!" The rowlet nodded as he fired off another volley of his green quills.

Mark reacted quickly by having Jinn use cotton spore just as rowlet was about to attack. Jinn spun around, releasing spores of the white wool that grew around her neck and head. The wool clumped around rowlet's wings, causing the razor leaf attack to lose its momentum and precision.

"Oh no! Ronin, you've got to flap harders to get that stuff off of you!" Lester's rowlet did as he was told but it was too late. Mark had already ordered Jinn to use thunder shock again. Electricity built up inside Jinn's body for the energetic blast that she aimed at Ronin. When the attack landed, sparks danced around the bird's body, surging through him like an undammed river. Ronin made a strained cooing noise as he fell to the ground, lying unconsciously afterward.

After closely examining Ronin, the referee lifted his hand in Mark's direction and said, "Lester's rowlet is unable to battle. Mark's flaaffy is the winner!"

There were some murmurs among the spectators which reminded Mark of how much he hated battling. He bit the inside of his cheek, feeling uncomfortable. While Alex and Eric revelled in the spotlight, Mark was different. He despised the feeling of judgment, both towards himself and his opponent. It was a feeling of helplessness. Like he and his opponent were at the mercy of the crowd and regardless of the outcome, one would be shamed in the eyes of others. Since Alex and Eric's battle, he had heard talk on both sides. Some said that Alex's win was a fluke while others called Eric a disgrace, though Mark knew that no one would say either of those things to his brother's face.

Mark's features softened as he said, "We can end this now, Lester."

As Lester recalled Ronin into his pokémon, he responded. "Don't mock me! Brooklyn, let's go!" The blonde called out his second pokémon, a large rufflet with a deep sapphire blue coloration in the plumage on his torso and around his eyes.

"Another flying-type…" Mark said in thought. "You're a bird keeper."

"That wasn't the plan but yeah, I guess you can call me that. I don't plan on training just flying-type pokémon but these two just called to me. First, Ronin seemed like he wasn't afraid of anything when I first met him in Prof. Kukui's lab. He was ready to throw down with just about anybody. Then Brooklyn here, is everything I could want in a pokémon. He's strong, brave, and when I met him, he was kind of a protector of the pokémon that lived in his neck of the woods. These two are going to be the ones to take you down, bully! Brooklyn, hit 'em fast and hit 'em hard with a fury attack!"

Brooklyn shot forward, charging Jinn with a barrage of beak strikes and talon slashes. Jinn's small coat of wool absorbed the damage from some of Brooklyn's attacks but the talons were especially troublesome when they would dig through the very light layer of wool on her torso.

Mark's features hardened into a serious demeanor again. He called out, "Jinn, charge!" His mareep baaed as she generated electricity in her tail and ran it throughout her body. Sparks appeared all around her, zapping Brooklyn and detering him from continuing his assault. Mark told himself, "He can't win..." The crimson-eyed boy did not want to finish this battle but he would if he had to. "Jinn, use thunder shock."

Jinn nodded as she concentrated the electricity running through her into a beam and focused it on Brooklyn.

"Brave bird!"

"What?!"

Brooklyn dove down from his altitude, narrowly avoiding Jinn's thunder shock, and tucked his wings into his body to increase his speed. When Brooklyn was inches from the ground, he spread his wings out and flapped them to fly forward, carrying the same speed he had in his fall into a hi-speed attack that struck Jinn square in the stomach.

Jinn wailed in pain as she was sent flying onto her back, dirtying her white wool as she stumbled to a stop at Mark's feet.

"Jinn! Are you okay?"

"Maaaareep!" Jinn said as she rose to her feet. She was in pain but she was still able to continue.

She stared down Brooklyn who looked at her with unwavering determination. Despite the gap in power and experience, this rufflet was standing his ground in the face of an angered flaaffy which only added fuel to the flame. Jinn dragged her feet on the ground, ready to charge forward but Mark bided his time, preferring to keep some distance between his and Lester's pokémon.

Lester realized that Mark's strategy was very reactive. He had Jinn attack from a distance and whenever Lester's pokémon would try to close the distance, Jinn would either counter attack or use some defensive measure. If Lester and Brooklyn wanted a chance at beating Jinn, they would have to get her to initiate the exchange of blows.

"Brooklyn, fly around Jinn!" The rufflet cooed before taking flight in a large circle above Jinn. The flaaffy looked up to keep track of the flying-type pokémon. Lester called out to Brooklyn, "When you see an opening, strike!" The eaglet pokémon cooed again. He bid his time until he saw Jinn started to fire off thunderbolt attacks. These attacks were much stronger than the thunder shocks that she had used earlier - much more concentrated bolts of electricity. When Brooklyn dodged one of the thunderbolts, he dove forward with another brave bird which clipped Jinn in the face, knocking her onto her back. Brooklyn staggered mid flight, having taken a lot of recoil from that attack. Despite this, he regained his altitude and continued circling Jinn.

When Jinn stood back up, she was livid and Mark knew that he had to do something or she would act off pure anger.

"I've got no choice…Jinn, charge up as much electricity as you can."

"Stay back, Brooklyn! She's going to use a powerful thunderbolt. Just wait for our chan-"

"Discharge."

Jinn yelled out as the electricity dancing around her body was pushed outward in all directions. An orb of crackling yellow energy consumed the field, pushing against the psychic force field that surrounded the two pokémon. With nowhere to escape, Brooklyn was washed over by the electric attack before falling to the ground.

"Brooklyn!"

The referee announced, "Lester's rufflet is unable to battle. With no other pokémon left on Lester's side, Mark is the winner."

There was weak clapping from the audience which made Mark's stride toward the middle of the field less graceful. He approached Lester as the blonde hunched over Brooklyn's unconscious body. Mark reached around his shoulder to pull his backpack off, grab a potion and paralyze heal, and offer the medicine to him.

Lester looked up at Mark with teary eyes which he tried to hide with his back of his forearm. "W-what are those for?" Lester noticed that Mark's eyes had softened from earlier. They were more gentle and welcoming.

Mark answered, "The potion is to help heal his injuries and the paralyze heal is just in case Jinn's discharge inflicted paralysis on your rufflet."

Lester sharply turned his head away from Mark to look at his rufflet. He caught a glimpse of small sparks jumping around Brooklyn's body. Setting his pride aside, he looked back up to Mark and accepted the medicine from him before applying them to his pokémon. Mark instructed him with using the paralyze heal first so that when Brooklyn recovered from his wounds he would not panic from being able to move. Lester did so and was happy to see that once he used the potion, Brooklyn had little difficulty flying and perching himself on his trainer's shoulder.

"Brooklyn!" Lester said happily as he pet the rufflet's feathers. In response, Brooklyn rubbed his head against the blonde's hand.

"Y-you helped us. Why?"

"Because he cares a lot about pokémon," Sienna answered as she and the rest of Mark's friends stepped onto the field.

"S-Sienna…" Mark said. As the group approached Mark and Lester, Raven came into view, much to Mark's surprise. "R-Raven…"

"Sorry we missed most of your match, Mark," Karitoru said. "We were a little busy clearing the air."

Mark turned to Raven who nodded to him. She then looked at his friends and said, "Can we get a moment?"

Alex walked over to Mark, threw and arm over his shoulder, and told the rest of their friends, "You guys heard her. Scram."

"She meant all of us," Sienna retorted.

"Hey, anything she wants to say in front of him, she can say in front of me. Isn't that right, best buddie?"

"Eevee!" Vivi said in agreement.

"Actually guys, I think I should talk to Raven alone."

Alex's grin fell as he said, "Oh...I see. So it begins. Come on, Vivi." Alex shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away with Vivi at his side. Sienna, Karitoru, Alaina, and Lester all left as well.

Mark turned to Raven and found it impossible not to sweat bullets. Whatever he thought he was going to say, he couldn't find anymore. They were in awkward silence for a few moments until Raven finally spoke. "I owe you an apology," she said. "The reporter told me that you weren't actually going to jump at me that day on the marina. She took the blame for that. She also told me that you're one of the most compassionate trainers she's ever met and seeing that you gave your opponent medicine to heal their pokémon, I can second that."

Mark began to blush as he scratched the back of his head. He said, "I-uh...thank you."

"You're welcome. I-uh...I want you to know that I really am sorry for any inconvenience I've cost you."

Mark shook his hands and said, "N-n-n-no! Not at all."

Raven offered him a small smile as she said, "The dean won't be hearing any complaints from me. I'll see you around, Mark."

"O-okay. Oh! Raven." The blue-haired girl turned back around to face him. Mark continued, "By the way, the reason Tapu Caffini doesn't use plastic straws anymore is because when some students found a popplio with a straw in its nose, they petitioned against their continued use."

Raven tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she said, "Oh, I see. Funny how that barista had no idea."

"Yeah, I guess she didn't get the memo."

Raven gave him another smile and said, "Yeah, guess not." She turned and did a double take before waving goodbye to him, leaving the boy with a hand up in parting.

Once Raven left, the crimson-eyed boy found his head locked by Alex's arm as the loud boy said, "So, did you get the girl's number?"

"Whaaaaa~?! Alex, I just met her!"

"You didn't deny that you wanted it, though," Alex pointed out. Mark's friends laughed as his face burned brightly. "Well, I worked up an appetite," Alex said. "Let's go get us some grub at the food court, yeah?"

"I'll second that," Karitoru said as he rubbed his stomach.

Without much else to do, the group left the Battle Club. As they exited, Lester watched from afar as he told himself, "What a guy. I will catch up to you one day." He then turned around and walked away.

**Phew! Now that was quite a ride for me to write. I know the plot seemed pretty steamline but I'll be honest: I actually had to revise it multiple times until I was finally happy with it. I really hope you guys enjoyed reading it because as tough as it was to write, I definitely enjoyed the finished product.**

**QOTD: With Pokémon Sword and Shield right around the corner, I have to ask - Which game will you all be getting and why?**

**That's it for this time so this is Legacy signing off. Until next time!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone! I'm super excited to bring you guys the next chapter of Aether Academy! I think this might be the shortest amount of time that I've taken to post a new chapter so I'm proud to have been able to bring you this, considering all of the behind-the-scenes-stuff I had to prepare for today but more on that later. Now, it's time to respond to some reviews.**

WrittenWhim: I'm glad you enjoyed Lester's character and his shenanigans. I had tons of fun writing him so we both owe his creator, MaMcMu, a huge thanks for contributing the groundwork for this character. He didn't start off as being comical, in nature, but I got the "he takes himself very seriously" vibe from him so I made him take things serious to the point of ridiculousness.

Heart of the Anime: I'm so glad that you took the time to read this story. I hope that I did justice to Raven since I know that she's one of your favorite characters from the ones you've created. Unfortunately, she won't have Sergio to argue with all the time but I think the backstory I came up for her in this continuity of the Legacyverse will make up for that.

DJTiki: My dude! You know I got to respond to that awesome review! I have to say, you're as perceptive as ever to the subtleties that writers put into the most minute details. As for the constructive criticism that you offered, I appreciate you pointing out that I'm making too many references to the past. That's actually what I was afraid of. I don't want to rely heavily on flashbacks to explain certain statements that characters make so I'll try to limit those types of details.

**Lastly, I've been forgetting to respond to the previous chapter's QOTD so I'll be starting to answer them as well from this point onward. I'm getting pokémon Shield version because I prefer the look of Zamazenta. I hate that Zacian holds a sword whereas the shield was integrated into Zamazenta's design. It honestly should've been a lion because the shield resembles a lion's mane but a wolf is cool too.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters. These are the intellectual properties of Nintendo and the Pokémon Company. For this chapter, I must make an additional special disclaimer.

**Additional Special Disclaimer: All gym trainers that appear in this chapter are named after famous celebrity singers and are parodies of those individuals. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the work of Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, and Elvis Presley and do not intend to insult them or their fan-bases with this chapter. Also, the trainer quotes that they provide before their battles commence are direct quotes from each individual. May Michael and Elvis rest in peace.**

**Star Academy**

**Chapter 4**

Malie City was a center of Johtonian architecture and culture with many of its buildings resembling those found in some of Johto's main cities such as Ecruteak City and Violet City. It even had a gym that, at one point, replicated one found in Johto's neighbor region, Kanto. This city was where Ava's research into the mysterious move that Vivi used on Eric's tyrunt led her. Having found some freetime, Eric accompanied her into town since he too was curious about the move and Ava's struggle to supply an answer thus far only strengthened that curiosity.

As the duo walked the cobblestone streets of Malie City hand-in-hand, Ava would window shop, spending a few moments looking at the dresses, kimonos, and jewelry displayed in some of the windows. Eric did not mind the leisurely pace they strolled in. It was a nice change from the constant challenges he had received since his battle with Alex. None pushed him to try very hard but as the champion of the school, he could not turn down too many challenges, especially from some of the senior students. When Ava asked him if he wanted to go with her to a bookstore in Malie City, he couldn't get off his bed fast enough.

The couple continued walking along the boulevard until they reached a window with bracelets and necklaces. Ava eyed a bracelet with a small bronze bell long enough for Eric to see that she was intrigued by it so he walked over to the door and opened it. The sound of the store's bell ringing caught her attention. When she turned to look at Eric holding the door for her, she tilted her head and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Um...holding the door? Come on, before my arm gets tired," he said teasingly.

Ava smiled at him and nodded. She then proceeded to walk at a shelmet's pace which annoyed Eric so he put his hand on the curve of her back and hurried her inside. They then made their way to the bracelet that Ava had been looking at through the window, which caught the clerk's attention. He was an older man with a partial ring of receding white hair and a pair of circular glasses. The lenses were plagued with scratches left over years of wiping them with whatever material he could use to clean them. With a hunched back and long fingers that made his hands look too large for his bony arms, the man reminded Eric of a scizor. When he whispered it to Ava, she giggled a bit.

"Alola!" the man said, as he approached them. "Do you have any questions about anything in the store?"

Ava nodded. "Yes, how much is this bracelet?" She pointed to the one she had been looking at.

The man hunched closer to the item and adjusted his glasses to get as clear a look as possible. When he recognized the bracelet with the bell, he stood up as straight as he could and responded, "I'm selling it for 60,000."

Eric went wide-eyed when he heard the price. He asked, "I'm not an expert on jewelry but isn't that a little expensive for a bracelet?"

The man held up the bracelet with shaky hands and explained, "Well, typically rose gold bracelets like this one range anywhere from P7,500 to P10,500 but do you see that bell attached to it as a charm?" Eric and Ava nodded. "Well this is a Clear Bell imported from Ecruteak City in Johto. It's said to have made the legendary Ho-oh to appear at the Bell Tower."

Eric's face displayed some intrigue but Ava rolled her eyes and said, "'Said to' is not the same as 'did.' May I see it?" The elderly man nodded, allowing her to examine the bracelet. As she lifted it, Ava continued, "I don't believe that it made a giant fire bird pokémon magically appear but I'll still buy it. The metal looks like it's good quality. Wait." She ran her fingers over the bell, which jingled with the slightest movement. "The bell's been painted over." Ava brought the bell in between herself and the clerk, revealing a bronze undertone.

The man's smile never once faltered as he explained, "The bell was painted over to match the bracelet's color."

"So it's not real rose gold."

"The bell is not but the bracelet is."

"Knock the price down to P24,000."

The man shook his head and said, "Even though the bell is painted over, it is still a Clear Bell."

"Like I said, I don't believe in the myth you told us but if you insist on charging me based on the legend behind it, I'll buy it for P45,000."

The man smiled at her and nodded. "I can do that price." He then led the couple to the register to charge Ava for the bracelet. "Would you like the bracelet inside its box?"

"No, I'd like to wear it."

The man nodded again as he handed the bracelet to her. "I'll put the box inside the bag."

"Thank you," Ava said as she finished putting the bracelet on her hand and reached for the bag. With that, the couple said goodbye to the man and exited the store, continuing towards the bookstore that Ava went to Ula Ula Island for in the first place.

"I can't believe you paid that much for a bracelet."

Ava shrugged and said, "It's a nice bracelet. Look how cute the bell looks."

"You didn't even believe that story he said and you still bought it."

"Listen to it jingle," she said, ignoring him. She was clearly entertaining herself with her purchase. When she realized that Eric was watching her with an eyebrow quirked, she rolled her eyes and said, "You believe it, don't you?"

"As far fetched as it may seem to believe, legendary pokémon do exist."

Ava shook her head and said, "Sorry. If I can't see it, I can't believe it." She stopped in front of Eric and faced him, placing her hands on his shoulders. "You know what I do believe, though?"

"What's that?"

She then slipped her arms behind his neck and said, "That I'm lucky to have such a strong believer in my life. If you didn't believe in me, I would have let my brother get to me. I wouldn't have believed that I was good enough to inherit my father's company."

Eric smiled at her. "Hey, I was just there to support you but let's not get carried away. You still have to graduate before you get to inherit it. Let's be honest, though. You've definitely earned it with how much your research in pokémon vitamins impacted your dad's company. You're amazing, Ava."

The too shared a deep look into each other's eyes before breaking into laughter. They then continued their stroll until Ava pointed and said, "Look! That's the book store that Professor Kukui told me to try out." The store's sign read, "Yuna's Imported Books."

"If this isn't it, I couldn't imagine anything but a booking agency inside."

Ava rolled her eyes and laughed as she walked into the store and Eric followed behind her. Inside, were two women behind the counter. There were some heavy resemblances between the two women including their noses, mouths, and cheek structures though there was also about twenty years difference between them. They were clearly mother and daughter and by the way they were dressed in qipaos, the mother's being more formal and the daughter's being worn with shorts and sneakers, they were from Johto.

"Alola!" the older woman, Yuna, said energetically. Her daughter also greeted the customers but with much less enthusiasm. This earned the young woman a displeased look from her mother.

"Alola," Eric and Ava responded.

Yuna approached the couple and asked, "How can we help you?"

"I was told by my teacher that I could find a book from Johto that is all about the pokémon, eevee."

The woman tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I think we did get a book like that last month." Without turning fully to her daughter, she shouted, "Carol! Do you remember what we did with that one?"

The daughter responded, "I sold it to the Dragon Man just the other day."

"You mean Ryuki?" Eric asked. "Tall, two-toned hair, usually wearing spandex or leather?"

"That's the one," Carol responded plainly.

Eric sighed as he asked to no one, in particular, "What could that man be up to now? Guess we'll have to pay him a visit."

Carol's mother said, "I'm sorry that we didn't have what you were looking for. Are there any other books you'd be interested in?"

Ava shook her head and politely responded, "No, we were just looking for that one. Thank you for your help." She bowed her head and said goodbye to them.

Eric followed after Ava and the two made their way to Ryuki's gym. When they reached the front entrance, Ava asked her boyfriend, "Do you think he bought that book knowing we were looking for it?"

"Who knows. I wouldn't be surprised if he did, though. Come on, let's just get this over with."

The double doors slid open, allowing Eric and Ava to enter the lobby area. They quickly checked in with the worker at the front who made a phone call for a few short moments before hanging up and telling them that they could walk into the arena. Eric barely set foot inside the room and Ryuki had shouted, "So you've come at last, my worthy rival! Yeeeeeeaaaaah!"

On the complete opposite end of the room stood a man with green and white hair, which was complemented by his green jumpsuit. The jumpsuit had small patches of black on his sides and chest with small golden diamonds as accents to the entire outfit. His odd appearance was only enhanced by the way he shook his air guitar.

"Here we go," Eric muttered under his breath. "Ryuki, I just came for the book. Ava needs it to continue her investigation."

"I'd be more than glad to give you this book AFTER you have cleared my gauntlet of trainers…" He raised his arms as he gestured to the three trainers that stood on either side of the battlefield. "...and defeated me in battle. You've already earned a badge from my gym so this is the only thing I can offer you."

"I'll battle you."

Eric was shocked by Ava's sudden declaration. Despite knowing that Eric was looking at her, she kept her eyes trained on the gym leader standing at the end of the room. Ryuki was just as confused as Eric was by the girl's challenge. When he realized what was happening, Ryuki started to laugh uncontrollably, which irked Ava.

"What's so funny?" She slammed her foot down, which made a slapping noise because of the sandal she wore. It did not have the intimidating effect she intended for it to have.

Ryuki fought his laughing fit to respond, "I-i-it-it's no-noth-thing!" His laughter began to fizzle out so when his breathing began to stabilize, he said, "I like your taste in women, Dragon Prince. She's a confident one."

"I'm right here," Ava responded, her arms stretched out to the side.

"I'll tell you what, Dragon Princess-"

"Don't call me tha-"

"I'll let you accept my challenge in the Dragon Prince's stead but you must battle against my gym trainers to earn the right to battle me."

Ava glared at Ryuki intensely but the man simply smiled in return. The idea of battling this new opponent seemed to excite him. Ava, on the other hand, was unsure if she could rise up to the challenge. Eric narrowly defeated Ryuki as a junior at Aether Academy and he was ranked number one in their class. She knew she was no pushover but she knew that she had to consider that Ryuki most likely trains his pokémon daily so she reasoned that he must have been stronger since his battle with Eric before the summer break.

Ava's thoughts were broken when she felt Eric's hand on her shoulder. She finally looked over at him. "You don't have to do this, honey."

Ava smiled at him and said, "You've been battling nonstop since school started. You and your pokémon should rest. Besides, I've been cheering you on lately. I think it's about time you return the favor."

Eric smiled back at her as he took hold of Ava's face and leaned in to kiss her. It was quick but it carried the warmth of companionship, admiration, and gratitude all in one. It said everything he needed to say and much more and it left a dumb grin on her face.

"I should take my seat," Eric said as he let go of her cheeks and walked away from her.

Ava took a deep breath in and when she exhaled, she looked down at the staircase that led into the pit where Ryuki and his trainers waited for her. With solid determination, the young woman took a step forward and reached for a poké ball in her bag and enlarged it. As she stepped onto the dirt field, she locked eyes with the first trainer who then proceeded to walk over to her.

"That's it!" Ryuki yelled. "Show her the gym walk, Michael!"

"Ha-ha!" the trainer, known as Michael, yelled as he spun in front of Ava and struck a pose. He pointed upward and looked in the same direction.

Ava looked over at Eric with a questionable look on her face. He simply shrugged, unsure of what to tell her.

Michael said, "If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, then make that change."

"W-what does that have to do with-"

Ryuki yelled over her, "Yeeeeeeaaaaah! Let the battle begin!"

Michael backed away from Ava and threw his poké ball at her, which she barely dodged by rolling out of the way. When she turned around, she was face-to-face with a long blue serpent-like pokémon, dratini.

Ava watched it carefully as she said, "Unsurprising." She then tossed her poké ball up to release her primarina. "Let's get this over with quickly, Neo."

"Prima! "Prima!" The pokémon clapped his paws together gleefully.

The gym trainers hissed in disgust at the sight of the fairy-type pokémon which prompted Ava to give Eric a questionable look. He simply shrugged in response. Ryuki shouted, "Michael, show them that dragon's can triumph over any pokémon, even the vile FAIRIES!"

"You're right, Ryuki!" Michael said. "Billie, show 'em your sweet moves. Dragon dance!" Michael's dratini began to twist and curl elaborately, surrounding herself in a red, blue, and violet aura of primal energy. When Billie finished her dance, she was still cloaked in that draconic aura. Michael ordered, "Now slam into that **FAIRY**."

"Neo, counter it with pound!"

"Prima!" Neo lifted one of her paws and swung at the dratini but Michael ordered her to wrap around Neo. Billie hooked around Neo's paw and slithered around him until he was completely restrained from head to tailfin. The primarina fell to his side with a thud while the dratini continued to constrict around him.

"What now, **FAIRY**-user? Ha-ha!"

Ava clutched her hand to her chest and cleared her voice. She was silent at first but slowly, it became clear that she was humming. The tune got louder until she was stretching her vocal cords to an elegant tune. When Neo heard his trainer's song voice, he joined in, displaying the beauty of a primarina's voice. Ryuki and the gym trainers were confused and began laughing at Ava. The mockery did not deter Ava or Neo from their synchronized songs. They continued to match each other's voices tune for tune until Billie began to feel uneasy and her grip around Neo loosened. Eventually, Billie's draconic aura faded and she let go completely. The tiny dragon lied limp on top of Neo, not unconscious, but very sluggish and disturbed.

"W-what's going on?!" Michael shouted.

"I think I can explain," Eric said. "Like most primarina, Neo loves to sing but more than that, he loves the sound of beautiful singing, especially Ava's. This is how they cemented their deep bond with one another and also how Ava is able to command Neo to use specific moves without having to say the commands outright. It may be a little slower than just saying the name of the move, but unsuspecting opponents struggle to understand what's going on. Right now, Neo is using the super-effective fairy-type move called disarming voice and just like it sounds, your dratini's lost its will to fight."

The song that Ava was singing changed and Neo followed her vocal lead by singing the new song as well. Now, Billie was finding it difficult to keep her eyes opened and within a few seconds, she was unconscious.

"W-what just happened?!"

Ava stopped signing to explain. When she stopped, Neo followed. "It's simple. Neo sang your Billie to sleep. She's unable to battle so I suggest you use your next pokémon.

Michael fell to his knees and said, "Billie is my only dragon-type pokémon. We can't continue fighting."

Ava nodded and called Neo back into his poké ball before proceeding to her next opponent, Britney. The blonde girl that awaited Ava seemed confident, despite having witnessed her colleague's crushing defeat moments before. Britney approached Ava with her gym walk and said, "Don't treat me like a little girl."

Again, Ava was confused by the gym trainer's odd statement but did not have much time to think about it because like her last opponent, Britney had called out her pokémon and was ready for battle. Before Ava stood a hakamo-o, which reminded her of Eric's own hakamo-o. Knowing type-effectiveness, Ava called Neo back out and made quick work of the dragon using the same strategy she used in her previous match. This irked Britney but unlike Michael, she had a second pokémon, but before she released it, she needed a change of scenery.

Britney snapped her fingers and said, "Set the stage."

Someone working behind the scenes had made it so that the battlefield began to transform. The ground parted from the center, forcing everyone to clear out. Underneath lay a bed of water, which Britney needed for her next pokémon.

"You have a water-type so a water battle is what we're having. Go Toxic!"

Everything became clear when Ava saw that Britney's second pokémon was a skrelp. This complicated things, though, because Neo would be at a disadvantage in terms of typing. Regardless, Ava looked at her pokémon and asked, "Are you up for it?"

"Prima! Prima!" Neo clapped her paws and jumped into the water, taking a moment to enjoy her element by swimming around before readying herself for battle.

In an attempt to end things quickly, Ava began to sing in hopes of putting Toxic to sleep. Britney and her skrelp were quick to react with a smokescreen attack that made Neo cough and wheeze, preventing her from singing.

"Tsk." Ava was not expecting that, so she had to rethink her strategy.

Now that Neo had been silences, Toxic applied pressure with a poison tail attack.

"Dodge it!" Ava yelled. Neo managed to do so, narrowly evading the poison-tipped tail. "Pound!" Neo swung his paw, striking Toxic on the side of his body. It was a critical hit, but Neo pricked himself with one of the Toxic's spines. The primarina burnt up as the poison spread through him like a wildfire. His vision became hazy and his concentration faded, making it easy for Toxic to strike him with a powerful poison tail attack.

Ava did not want to let Neo take any more unnecessary damage so she pointed his poké ball at him and shot a red beam of light from the button on the center. Neo was converted into energy and sucked into the poké ball where he could rest.

Britney taunted her, "What's the matter? Your big bad **FAIRY** can't keep up with my skrelp?"

"You're not even using a dragon-type!" Ava retorted.

"Not yet, but one day, he will evolve into a glorious dragalge."

Ryuki cheered, "Yeeeeeeaaaaah! That's right he will!"

Ava dug through her bag until she found a white and red poké ball. She tossed the premier ball into the air and from it came a porygon2. The normal-type pokémon floated in the water like a rubber duck, bobbing back and forth as the small waves rocked it.

Britney asked, "You're not using a **FAIRY** this time?"

"I'm not a fairy-type specialist," Ava said flatly. "Are you ready to continue?"

"Aren't we a little impatient?"

"If you were paying attention, you'd know that I'm here for the book that I need to continue my resear-."

"Yawn. Boring!" Britney was pretending to yawn, waving her hand in front of her mouth to make her point.

Growing more impatient by the second, Ava said, "Firewall, just use discharge."

The porygon2's "feet" began spinning as it lifted itself into the air with electromagnetic energy and unleashed a shockwave of electrical energy that struck the water, shocking Toxic until he passed out and floated to the surface of the water.

Britney was left speechless as the gym floor returned to its original state. Ava released Neo from his poké ball and pulled out a full restore and began spraying Neo's body, starting on the paw that he hit Toxic with and ending with his tailfin. Neo's conditioned seemed to get better but Ava decided to give him some more time to rest up, so she put him back into his poké ball.

Firewall followed Ava toward her next opponent, a young man with a pair of sunglasses. "You're up, Elvis!" Ryuki called from behind him.

"Oh-yeah-yeah!" Elvis said as he began dancing. He then strutted toward Ava, but before he could say something, the girl interrupted.

"You're going to say something completely irrelevant that has nothing to do with out battle. Let's just get on with it."

Elvis did not like Ava's tone so he responded, "Listen hear, little lady. Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't going away. Oh-yeah-yeah! Nailed it!"

"Nice recovery!" Ryuki clapped his hands.

"Now, let the show begin!" Elvis said as he brought forth his vibrava. "Oh-yeah-yeah. Now we're buzzin'."

Ava turned to her porygon2 and said, "Let's make this quick." The computer program did not respond. Instead, he floated forward until he was between Ava and the vibrava.

"Ladies first," Elvis offered.

Ava nodded. "Firewall, let's try to paralyze it. Use discharge!"

Eric yelled, "No!" to warn her but it was too late. The electrical current was already traveling between the two pokémon. When it reached Elvis' vibrava, Ava was surprised that it had no effect.

"What the-? I know dragon resists electric but that should've done at least something, unless…"

"That's right!" Elvis said. "Teddy is part ground-type so you won't be paralyzing us today, no ma'am."

"Seriously? It isn't a dragon bug. Actually, it looks more bug-like than dragon-like."

"Well it's a ground and dragon-type pokémon, and now, after offering my compadres some tunes, we've got one for you, yes we do. Teddy, use bug buzz."

The vibrava began shaking his wings to emit an ear piercing soundwave that made Ava and Eric wince and cover their ears to try and lessen the pain. Ryuki and the other trainer seemed fine and so did porygon2. Without any ears, it was only damaged by the soundwave's physical pressure.

"Keep it up, Teddy!"

Ava struggled to focus through the head splitting pain but she managed to yelled out, "Firewall, psybeam!" An undulating wave of violet energy traveled from the porygon2's forehead to the vibrava, suspending it in the air. With the move of its head, Firewall was able to slam vibrava down to the ground, silencing the bug-like creature. Now able to release her hold on her ears, Ava slunched down, exhausted by the ordeal. "Keep a good lock on it, Firewall." The porygon2 was unresponsive but followed orders. After taking a deep breath, Ava said, "Now thrash Teddy onto the ground until it's unconscious." Firewall bobbed back and forth, raising the vibrava and dropping it over and over like Ava instructed it to until the vibrava was clearly unable to battle any longer.

"Oh no! Teddy!" Elvis yelled. He then recalled him back into his poké ball and brought out his second pokémon, a flygon. "We'll get your duck back for that. Let's go, Suede!" The flygon spread his wings out and roared menacingly before taking to the air inside the gym. The ceiling was very high to accommodate flying pokémon.

"Firewall, psybeam on this one too." Firewall shot out a psychic blast, but Suede easily dodged it. Ava ordered her porygon2 to keep launching the blasts, but it was useless. The flygon maneuvered around the attacks with ease.

"This is no good. We're not landing any hits on him." Ava said to herself.

"Ready to see Suede's sweet moves!" While continuing to dodge the psybeams, Suede began performing dragon dance, building up draconic energy around himself similar to Michael's dratini. His aura was much larger than Luna's, though. In fact, it towered over him twice over. "Now use dragon claw!" Suede concentrated his energy into one of his claws and dove down onto Firewall, hitting it with a powerful swipe.

Firewall stayed conscious but before Ava could have it recover, Suede followed up his first attack with a second strike from his other claw. This attack sent Firewall flying backwards until it reached the far end of the room. Ava was left wide-eyed by the brute strength that the flygon displayed before her eyes. She turned back to the unconscious porygon2 behind her and she let out a sigh as she returned it to its poké ball.

Ava turned back to face in front of her. "I haven't given Neo enough time to recover." She pulled another poké ball out and tossed it up. From it came a pancham and a scrappy one at that. The little panda had started running towards Suede before Ava could even give him any commands. "Petey!" The pancham flinched and came to a stop before slowly turning around to his trainer. "That flygon is very strong. You have to be careful!"

"Cham!" The pancham raised a paw up almost like a "thumb's up" and continued forward to face his opponent.

"Hate to do this to you, little pancham," Elvis said. "But as a Malie City gym trainer, I've got a duty to weed out trainers who ain't worthy to face Ryuki. Suede, use dragon claw!"

The flygon lunged forward at full speed, pushing himself further with powerful wingbeats. Ava called out, "We only get one shot, Petey!" As Suede neared Petey, Ava yelled, "Pivot on your foot and use circle throw!"

Petey spun around quickly and managed to hook his arm through Suede's, pulling him into the spin. The pancham then clutched that same arm with his other hand, securing a strong grip. "Paaaaaaaaan!" Petey redirected Suede with Suede's own speed and body weight before launching him back towards Elvis. "Cham!" A dust cloud formed around Petey as Suede flew away from him and slammed against the far wall of the gym.

Elvis' sunglasses tilted down, revealing a pair of ocean blue eyes left wide in disbelief. His mighty dragon had been bested by a tiny panda. The young man grit his teeth and turned to Suede, finding the flygon still conscious. "Suede, we gotta' fight back and hit 'em twice as hard!" Suede lifted himself up and nodded, his draconic aura rekindling into a new blaze. He was hurt but he could beat his wings, which carried him forward. "Alright, little lady. You heard the warm-up, now time for the main event. Suede, use supersonic!"

Suede tilted his head backwards, took a sharp breath, and then threw his head forward with an ear-splitting cry directed at Petey. Rings of yellow energy flew at him. When they connected, the pancham became dazed and disoriented, finding it difficult to stay balanced.

This is bad, Ava thought to herself. "Petey, you've got to snap out of it!"

"Oh no he doesn't. Suede, keep your distance. Use earthquake!"

The flygon stopped down onto the ground. Hard. The force resulted in powerful shock waves to be spread across the battlefield and into the stands, shaking the building to its foundation. Petey was already struggling to stay still but the tremors made it impossible. He fell backwards and bounced around on the ground, landing hard each time.

Ryuki cheered, "Yeeeeeeaaaaah! Rock n' roll!"

When the earthquake stopped, Petey was left lying on the ground unconscious. Ava regrettably returned him into his poké ball and called Neo out finally.

"So it's the **FAIRY** next," Elvis said.

"I've grown tired of your flygon. Neo, use disarming voice." Both Ryuki and Elvis were surprised by her directness this time around. Neo began singing but Elvis had seen Ava's trick one too many times to just sit by idly and wait for its effects to wear Suede down. He ordered Suede to use earthquake to shake the field, which disrupted Neo's song. Neo flailed about on the ground like a magikarp out of water. This left him open for Suede's next attack.

"Time for the encore, Suede use supersonic again!"

Just like Petey, Neo became confused and struggled to stay upright and stand his ground against Suede. The flygon then continued to create tremor after tremor which violently bounced the primarina about the field.

"Neo, you've got to start singing!"

Ava's voice turned into twenty different voices inside Neo's head, muddling what she said into incoherent words. Neo failed to capture the message and continued to be pummeled against the ground. What can I do now? Ava thought to herself. Neo can't find a good spot to stabilize himself and his head must be spinning. He'll keep taking damage from the ground if Suede continues using earthquake and it doesn't look like he'll stop, not until Neo is unconscious. She could do nothing but watch Neo, powerless to do anything as if they were separated by a wall of glass. It didn't help that she too was on the ground, hitting herself against the hard ground.

"Ava!" Eric yelled. "Neo is getting hurt by the ground!"

"I noticed!"

"No, you don't understand! The ground is hard!"

"I noticed! Wait!" Eric caught the spark in her eye that told him that she understood what he was trying to tell her.

Ava yelled at the top of her lungs, "NEO! USE WATER GUN!" Neo did not respond as she hoped so she continued to yell it out, clinging to the until the water- and fairy-type pokémon started shooting out streams of water. Eric smirked as he watched intently, keeping his gaze locked on the primarina. When Elvis and Suede saw that the water-type attacks were being fire haphazardly, the dragon took to the air to avoid the attacks.

"Can't get enough of Suede's voice? Then we'll give you more!" Suede fired another supersonic but something had changed in Neo. He still looked unnerved but he continued to fire off water gun attacks all around the field.

"What the-?! Suede, user earthquake!" The flygon slammed down onto the ground, sending seismic waves outwards. To his surprise, the impact was not as hard as it was before and Neo was not rocked as violently. "What?! Why is that earthquake so weak? Suede, what gives?!"

Ava used the opening to begin singing so that Neo could respond with disarming voice. Elvis ordered Suede to fly up and use earthquake with all of his strength. The flygon shot up into the air and dove back down at terminal velocity. He hit the ground hard...but did not land well. Suede was sprawled on the floor, weakened and disturbed by the disarming voice. Ava changed the melody and Neo, now with more clarity, followed her lead. The match was over when Suede's eyes closed shut and he began snoring.

"Oh-no-no…" Elvis' head hung low in defeat as he recalled Suede into his poké ball and walked off of the field.

Ava sighed, feeling some fatigue from the gauntlet she had just undergone. Now all that was left standing in between herself and the book she sought out was the gym leader, Ryuki. The man stepped forward to the edge of the battlefield where he stopped and yelled, "Well done. Very well done, indeed. You've successfully conquered the obstacles I've set for you and for that, you've earned the chance to face me. I will give you a moment to heal your pokémon from any serious injuries but after that, the real battle begins!"

**And with that, we'll continue with the battle between Ava and Ryuki next chapter!**

**Note 1: So originally, I tried to use a unique symbol that was not exactly like the poké dollar symbol but it was close enough. Unfortunately, FF did not use that character so from now on, I'll be using the letter "P" in front of monetary values to show how many poké dollars an item costs. Also, I want to mention that poké dollars are not the same as American dollars. Since a can of soda pop costs P300, I decided to make P300 = 100¢ = $1.00, so the original cost of the bracelet was $200.00. Ava knocked it down to about $150.00. Why didn't I just say that? Just for fun. I wanted the story to feel more immersive.**

**Note 2: I know that it seems kind of cheap to use a move that puts pokémon to sleep as a knock-out move but when Ash's charizard fell asleep on the anime, Ash basically had to forfeit, so during official gym matches, I see no reason for the same rules to apply. That being said, I won't make it so that the second a pokémon uses the status move sing, the opponent falls asleep. If you notice, Ava's one-shot attack needs some preparation, which she fought tooth and nail to set up during her battle with Elvis. Also, it takes time for the opponent to get drowsy and then fall asleep, similar to how the move yawn works in the games. If the opponent can stop the caster from singing, then they won't fall asleep. You'll see me try to make the moves a bit more realistic like some ground-type moves hitting flying-type pokémon. Bonemerang is a projectile. Yes, a flying-type has a good chance of dodging it but if the projectile hits, it should still do damage. Fairy-type pokémon will still get hit by dragon-type moves like outrage and dragon rush, but those moves will basically feel like thrash or double-edge because the dragonic energy will be nullified on contact. That still doesn't mean that a 6-foot dragon charging straight into them won't hurt. I just want you guys to be aware that the game mechanics won't always translate perfectly to this story.**

**Note 3: So after writing this chapter, I've decided that since this story takes place in the future of a universe that loosely follows the events of S/M/US/UM, there will be both gyms AND island trials. The reason is that I want to implement a theoretical idea that was touched upon by the games which is the idea of the new establishment of the Pokémon League clashing with the old traditions of Alola's people. That being said, I will now also open up applications to both gym leaders AND trial captains. The forms will be included in my bio so if you're interested in submitting a character for the first time or again, be sure to check it out as soon as you're done reading this.**

**QOTD: What is your favorite pokémon type and why?**

**That's everything for today so this is Legacy signing off. Until next time!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Legacy back with a bit of a shorter chapter. This will be the conclusion of Ava's gym gauntlet at the Malie City Gym. I didn't want to keep you guys waiting too long and I was pretty excited to write this battle so I here ya go! But first, let's respond to some reviews from the last chapter.**

ShadowWolf223: No, they really don't. They'd get along great with Mr. Crocker.

Steelrain66: I feel you, they're definitely one of my favorite types too.

**To answer last chapter's QOTD, my favorite type has to be between steel or dragon. I enjoy pokémon with these types in pretty much every aspect. I like most of the designs of steel- and dragon-types and I find myself gravitating to both those types when building teams. There's an old pokémon with a Galarian form in Sword and Shield that looks dumb but I love the concept behind the evolution's design. Not really spoilers since we all know that some pokémon got Galarian forms in Sword and Shield so I didn't feel the need to attach a spoiler warning. Now onward with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pokémon or any of its characters. These are the intellectual properties of Nintendo and the Pokémon Company.

**Aether Academy**

**Chapter 5**

After Ava had defeated Ryuki's gym trainers, she had a few moments to spray Neo, Firewall, and Petey with healing items that she carried in her purse. Eric left his seat during this intermission and went down to the battlefield to offer Ava some advice for her next battle. The girl noticed him approaching and smiled gently, though that smile quickly faded when she looked back at her pancham, whom she had been healing. Eric's face too became serious as he stated, "You've seen how he battles. What's going through your head?"

"To be honest, I'm kind of just ready to be over with this whole ordeal."

Eric nodded. He would have offered to battle Ryuki himself but he knew that Ava would refuse. In fact, she might have felt disrespected and belittled. The possibility kept him from offering. Instead, he pointed out, "Remember that he's a pretty aggressive battler."

"Yeah. I'll have to play it defensively and wear his pokémon down."

"Alright, sounds like a plan." He gave her a kiss on the forehead before making his way back to his seat. "You've got this!"

When Ava finished healing all major injuries that were inflicted upon her pokémon, she called them all back into their respective poké balls and stood ready to battle. Ryuki clapped his hands once, the sound reverberating throughout the hall and calling everyone's attention. "Well then," he began. His eyes were sharp and alert like a predator's. "Are you ready to begin?"

Ava simply nodded. She reached for a poké ball and brought it forward. Ryuki also pulled one from one of the two belts crossed over his waste and held it out. "We'll each be using three pokémon." Again, Ava nodded. Ryuki then pulled it back and as he tossed it out, he yelled, "Let's gooooooooooo!" Ava threw her poké ball out as well and two flashes graced the field with light. As the light faded, Eric and the gym trainers could see that Ava decided to start with her porygon2 and Ryuki with his garchomp. The shark-dragon roared menacingly but Ava's porygon2 simply bobbed back and forth, not bothered by the jagged teeth, sharp claws, and fierce grimace.

"Firewall, use psybeam!"

"Talica, don't let it touch you!" Unlike Firewall's previous opponents, this garchomp was fast - _very_ fast. He had sidestepped the psybeam and charged forward before Firewall's attack had reached the dragon's original position. "Sand tomb!" Talica swung his good arm, kicking up a dust devil that surrounded Firewall, pummeling it with grains of sand.

"Use conversion 2!" Firewall digitized itself into segmented blocks of data before rearranging itself with a green motif. The sand tomb did much less damage to it as the particles were caught on its new grassy surface.

"It's a grass-type now? That's wicked!" Ryuki shouted. "But it won't do you much good. Talica, poison jab!" Talica began releasing powerful toxins from between the scales around its good claw and drove it into Firewall's body, injecting poison into it.

Though it did not cry in pain, Firewall's ever-rotating legs spun out of control. Though she did not feel comfortable with the sight of her pokémon, she had to admit that had it been one who could yell or cry, she probably would not have been able to keep herself composed as well as she did. "Convert again!" Ava ordered. Firewall one again broke itself apart and reconstructed itself, this time with a metallic sheen.

"Earthquake!" Talica lifted its foot and then stomped down, creating a powerful seismic shockwave that everyone, except Firewall, was rocked by. This was merely part of Ryuki's plan, however. "Now take down!" it was too quick for Ava to react. Before she knew what was going on, Talica had lunged at Firewall and brought it down to the ground, allowing the seismic activity to rupture its metallic hide. "And just for an added bonus, use crunch!" Talic lifted its muscular neck before sinking its sturdy teeth through the weakened armor.

"Push him off with psybeam!" Ava yelled. She waited a few moments for Firewall to follow instructions but when it did not, she asked, "Firewall, what are you doing?! Use psy-" Talica stood up, revealing that the porygon2's original color had returned. It was unconscious. Without another word, Ava recalled Firewall into its poké ball and reached for the next one.

"Go, Astra!" Ava's second choice for this match was her beheeyem, another levitating pokémon. "Stay away from the ground, Astra!" The psychic-type emitted lights from its hands to communicate with her trainer. Astra seemed to understand since she rose in the air. "We're going first this time. Astra, use confusion!" The beheeyem locked onto the garchomp and emitted a concussive wave of psychic energy. Talica was incredibly fast, however. He had blitz across the field before Astra's attack reached him. _That speed is going to be a problem. We're going to have to aim our attacks to where he's going to be instead of where he is_. "Astra, use miracle eye!"

Astra's light twinkled. She then lifted her hands to her forehead, closed her eyes, and concentrated her mental energy until a third eye opened on its forehead.

"What's this now?" Ryuki asked.

"This is the key to our victory."

"We'll see about that. Talica, run around her beheeyem and use sand tomb!" The garchomp whirled around beheeyem, lost in a blue blur. A sand tornado kicked up with similar ferocity, spiraling upwards until Astra was surrounded by the violent twister.

"Psychic!"

Despite being so fast, Talica found himself stuck and unable to move. He felt as though he was trying to move through hardening cement. He could budge but despite his strong muscles, he could not push through this invisible bind.

Ava smiled as she triumphantly said, "Got him. Astra, use hidden power!" Astra nodded. She then concentrated her energy from a deep pool in her genetic make-up, once lost to time in her ancestry. She pulled that hidden power out and manifested it into an icy blue crescent wave that sent shivers up Talica's spine. The once proud and triumphant beast now cowered in the face of its greatest weakness: ice. As the crescent slammed into him, he was chilled to the core, unable to stay conscious through the freezing cold. When Talica went limp, Astra set him down gently so that Ryuki could return him into his poké ball.

Ryuki said nothing. He looked to Eric and said, "She's prepared for a duel with dragons, isn't she?"

"She has to be if she ever hopes of overtaking me as champion."

"I see...well then. I'm impressed by what you've shown me so far. But can you handle the heat I'm bringing you? Acidici! Let's turn it up! Yeeeeeeaaaaah!" Ryuki brought out his turtonator, who spat crackling embers into the air. "We're going to fight ice with fire."

"In that case, we'll refrain from that."

"I think you'll find it hard to. Acidici, use fire blast!" The turtonator charged a ball of swirling flames in front of him and shaped it into the kanji for "fire" as he launched it forward.

"Don't let it hit you! Catch it with psychic!" Astra concentrated her psychic energy on the fire blast to try and stop it. The burning plasma's loose matter made it difficult for her to completely contain it. Astra only managed to hold together some of the flames but the rest slammed right into her, knocking her out of the air.

"Scorch the ground!" Acidici shot a flamethrower and the ground, transforming the field into a stove. The hot surface burned Astra so even though she was able to pick herself back up from the ground, the damage had already been done.

Ava thought to herself, _He's right. I'll have to use hidden power to fight the hot with the cool._ "Astra, use hidden power!"

Astra shot out another icy attack but it was met and overtaken by a fire blast. Ava anticipated this so she had Astra moved out of the way and then use psychic to lift Acidici off the ground. Just as Ava and Astra thought that they had gained some ground in the battle, Ryuki ordered his turtonator to use overheat. While still the air, Acidici emitted an aura of fire around himself, which grew in intensity as he shot out a blast of heat in all directions. The area became so hot that everyone in the area started to sweat and they were forced to shield their eyes from the burning sensation that tickled them.

When Ava felt the temperature come back down, she looked at the battlefield to find Astra laying on the ground. She had been defeated, leaving Ava with only one pokémon left and she only had one choice. Ryuki knew this too and his thoughts were confirmed when Neo came onto the field across from Acidici.

The primarina landed on the dirt field with a thud. He straightened himself out to face against the turtle-dragon. Ava knew that Ryuki had seen her singing strategy one-too-many times so she would have to keep him on his toes with shouting direct orders and using her songs.

"We've got the advantage in typing so let's use it, Neo."

"Rina!"

"Your primarina may be at a complete advantage against my turtonator but there's no way that we're not putting up a fight against it, right Acidici?" The turtonator blew out a small puff of flames in response.

"Let's see how you handle this then. Neo, use sparkling aria!" Neo graced the area with a harmony that sounded as if a siren were singing through the waves of the ocean. Water escaped from his mouth and gathered in a dense ball until he felt that it was large enough. "Now throw it!" Neo swung his paws outwards, pushing the sphere towards Acidici.

"Fire blast!"

The collision of the water- and fire-type attacks created a thick cloud of vapor, eclipsing the two pokémon from the trainers and spectators. Ava took advantage of the smokescreen and told Neo to stay on the move. Despite not having much mobility on land, Neo was able to move within the cover of the vapor cloud to avoid any attacks that their opponents would aim his way. When Ava heard her pokémon cry to confirm that he understood, she began to sing. Neo followed and synchronized his melody with hers, which had Acidici scrambling with haphazard flamethrower blasts that were meant to interrupt the melody. The heat only made the shroud thicker, especially with the sparkling aria spheres that Neo would create as a shield when she felt the fiery stream nearing her. Eventually, Ava and Neo changed the melody to make Acidici drowzy, which made it hard for him to shoot proper flamethrower attacks. When the steam faded enough for the trainers to see inside, turtonator was revealed to be fast asleep.

"Looks like Acidici is unable to battle," Ava pointed out. "You'd better start thinking of who your last pokémon will be." The girl could not help but smile as she said this. Her pokémon were all tired, despite having been aided by medicine, yet they were all performing very well against a gym leader. Not just a gym leader, but one who specialized in a type that was difficult to train. She was confident in her ability to win this.

Ryuki was silent as he called Acidici back into his poké ball and replaced it with another, an ultra ball. From it, came a large dragonite, one who could tower over most others of his species.

"Ready to finish this, Aero?" Ryuki asked. His voice was gravely and menacing. The dragonite blew smoke from its nostrils as it glared down at Neo. "Dragon rush!"

"What?! That won't work on a fairy-type!"

After coating himself with a layer of draconic energy, Aero shot forward and slammed into Neo. The aura may have been neutralized by Neo's natural immunity to dragon-type moves. This did not protect him from Aero's large shoulder from slamming into his face. Neo rolled around on the floor, unable to stop himself. When he finally flopped onto his back, Neo tried to lift himself up but was met with a powerful thunder punch to the chest which sent him reeling back again.

Ava was wide-eyed. "This is bad! Neo, use disarming voice!" Neo could not even lift his head. He was left gasping from the powerful blow to his chest, which left his lungs hungry for air that he could never get enough of. "Neo! Do something! Sing! Water gun! Pound!" Ava was talking for her health. Neo could barely lift himself up. He could no longer defend himself and without hesitation, Ryuki ordered Aero to use thunder punch. This one was a right hook to Neo's face, which knocked the primarina out cold. "Neo!"

Eric stood up from his seat and gripped the rail tightly. He trembled with anger and it was all towards Ryuki. When he looked over at the gym leader, the man said, "Now that I've defeated your partner, it's time that I get the prize I've thirsted for for so long. Face me."

"No." Ryuki turned back to Ava who was hunched over Neo on the ground. She had a fierce look in her eye, one that Ryuki liked. "If anyone is going to face you, it's going to be me."

Ryuki crossed his arms and laughed. His gym trainers joined in on the laughter. "I've already defeated your best pokémon. You can't offer me the thrill of a challenge I seek."

"Not yet." Ava stood up from the ground and called Neo back into his poké ball. "I'll be back for that book, though."

Ryuki shook his head. "Like I said, you had your chance. The Dragon Prince will be my next opponent. That is if you want the book."

Ava looked over at Eric, glaring at him. He knew what that look meant. Eric told Ryuki, "I won't battle you. The book isn't for me. This is something she has to earn."

Ryuki looked into Eric's blood red eyes. It was a long while that they stared at each other. Eventually, Ryuki understood that Eric's resolve was rock hard like a geodude. He would not face Ryuki. The gym leader laughed and said, "In that case, I will offer her one more opportunity to win this book herself. If she fails a second time, you will face me, Dragon Prince."

"I only need one more chance," Ava said flatly. "I agree to these terms." She looked over at Eric who then turned to Ryuki and nodded.

"Me too," the crimson-eyed boy said.

"Don't keep me waiting too long, now, girl."

"I won't."

Eric and Ava exited the room together, leaving Ryuki alone with Aero and the gym trainers. His lips curled into a toothy grin.

"E-everything okay, boss?" Elvis asked.

"Not yet, but it will be once I've gotten the challenge I deserve."

Outside, Eric and Ava walked toward the ferry to go back to Aether Academy. At least, that's where Eric thought they were going. When Ava started walking to the ferry to Melemele Island, Eric questioned her. "You're going home?"

"I'm going to Wentworth Labs. There's something there that I need to get."

Eric went for Ava's hand. "You're going to use medicine? Don't tell me you're going to use X-items."

"No, nothing like that. There's something else I need to get from there. I'd prefer to go alone." Ava pulled away from Eric, allowing her hand to slip from his fingers. He said nothing else and watched her walk away.

**Bet you all thought Ava would win, didn't you? Not today! She's going to get some character development before she gets to take on Ryuki again.**

**QOTD: What do you guys think Ava is going to her father's lab for and why? **

**I won't be answering this question in the author's notes of the next chapter. The chapter itself will not contain the answer either but it will be answered within the next few chapters, for sure. Anyways, that's it for this time around. This is Legacy signing off. Until next time!**


	7. Update 1

**Hi everyone!**

**I just wanted to take a moment to give you all an update as to where I stand with Aether Academy as of right now. So after wrestling with some writers' block, I sort of just wanted to progress with the narrative that I really want to write, revolving around Alex, so I've decided to do something a little different. Some of you may have noticed that I recently uploaded a story by the name of Trainer Drama World Tour, which is a prequel to Aether Academy that takes place between Alex's first and second years at the academy. **

**Trainer Drama might sound familiar to you and that's because the title is basically a rip-off of the 3rd season of the Total Drama series, which is a show about a reality tv competition that is a cartoon parody of real world shows of that nature, specifically Survivor. The premise of Trainer Drama is that Alex was selected along with 17 other teenagers who specialize in one of the 18 pokémon types to participate in challenges while traveling to the 8 regions that appear in the core games of the Pokémon games. For those of you worried that I will not be able to complete that story (let alone this one), rest assured that I already planned out ALL of the challenges that the contestants will undergo, so I have a strong structure that I can follow. Much like reality tv competitions, the challenges are planned ahead of time, however the chaos that will unfold during the season will be a surprise. If anyone is interested in submitting a character, go ahead and check out my bio for the application. It's not 100% necessary to read the Prologue, but it does offer a bit more context than what I've provided here, so I recommended that you do give it a read.**

**As for Aether Academy, I will be putting this story on hold for the time being to focus on Trainer Drama. After all, I do plan on rewriting a few things for this story (nothing major) because there are a few retcons that I've made with Trainer Drama already. Don't worry, there will be more adventures with Alex over in that story, so go ahead and give it a read!**

**That's all for today. Until next time, pokémon masters!**


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